Quote Originally Posted by dwarfman
If Hero bets the flop when opponent has nothing, opponent folds. If Hero checks, opponent may see a repping opportunity on the turn and you might squeeze a little extra chips out of him.
If you check as a known aggressive player then you will at best get a bet/fold on the turn out of an aware player. At PokerStars that bet will probably be something gay like 1/4 pot. Then the next time a flop like that comes along and you bet it with air you've given them cause to play back at you.

Besides, Ax is paying you off here a lot and I want to get the pot build up if he's there to pay me off so I don't have to put in some really silly river action.

Finally, I really want to win this flop every time I PFR and have air. Those pots add up to more than extracting a weak turn bet in spots like this.