Hi,

As you all know, it's much harder to play a pot out of position, especially with "marginal" hands (TPTK). I find myself loosing to much money with TPTK when i'm behind, and winning less when i'm ahead. I think the problem is that i'm to aggressive when I flop something semi-good. With pot sized bets, only better hands will call, weaker hands will fold. Also, many players with monsters will be satisified with me betting the pot, so they just call and wait to reraise me until the river.

For example (made-up scenario),
I have AhQc

flop

Qh 7s 6s

I've opened preflop with 4xbb and a player behind me calls. I bet pot (to protect my TPTK from draws). If the player behind me just calls here, he could have anything and my bet didn't buy me any information. He could just aswell have made a set, have an overpair or be on a straight or flush draw. This happens to me all the time. I continue to bet the pot on the next street, at which I'm either raised or get him to fold. Again, if he calls he could have me beat or he could still draw (remember, at NL100, players chase flushes like there's no tomorrow).

So, what is the correct way to bet on the flop?

I think it is better to bet less on the flop in order to provoke an action that will give away the strength of my opponents hand. For example, if I bet half the pot, any overpair or set will reraise me hard as it looks like I want a cheap turn (they will put me on a draw). Any call of that weak bet tells me that my opponent isn't that happy with his hand and he want's to see a cheap next card. If the turn isn't scary, I can start valuebetting my TPTK. If the turn is scary, I can slow down and try to keep the pot size down.

What do you think?