i like to make it 6 preflop, especially if we know he's making this raise w/ less than premium hands. 1 ...we have a non pair hand that wouldn't mind just winning the pot now, and 2 .... we want to make sure we aren't up against a monster, he will let us know if he 5bets.

this flop is one that can get pretty scary, i prefer to check/call as played because there pretty much isn't a hand he is raising that doesnt either have you crushed or A TON of equity against you. For your raise to be for value, you have to expect him to be raising w/ A9 and worse, I just don't see it. I want to try to get to showdown as cheaply and quickly as possible w/ this holding on a board like this. You do have the backdoor heart draw, plus the gutshot straight draw ... neither are very strong draws, but they are ways of catching the nuts and allowing you to win the pot. Put yourself in his shoes, if he's holding like AJ or AK or KJ here he's gonna wanna raise and get the money in ASAP most likely because of how scary the board is. don't let him do that w/ those holdings, try to keep the pot small.