Decent draw get's c/r'ed so I'm questioning the cbet

[minSim]

Pretty standard spot. I have villain on 24/20/inf over 40 hands from a session before. I have been on this table for 3 hands now.
Let's for the sake of the thread assume villain c/res a lot of draws.

Is there merrit in checking the flop behind? Does my J being the nuts when a T hits matter?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($101.65)
BB ($57.75)
UTG ($48.85)
MP ($68.25)
CO ($50)
Hero (Button) ($50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, J
3 folds, Hero bets $1.25, SB calls $1, 1 fold

Flop: ($3) 7, 9, 6 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2.50, SB raises to $8, Hero folds

[Alexos]

If villain goes crazy on these types of boards then clearly you'd prefer checking behind with this hand. Having the J makes it more of a check too.

[Dex]

Do you think that after raising 2.5x on the button (do you still do this with the top of your range too or do you lazy 3x? What do you think villain thinks your 2.5x is? Steal?), this is the kind of board he will try to raise you off in btn vs blind, regardless of his holding? I think that's worth consideration too, along with the assumption he raises a lot of his draws. Do you think villain is flatting more high cards than mid/low cards to your btn raise?

Bet/folding is just turning your hand into a full out bluff. If you call you have position and $40.75 behind in a $19 pot. Villain is either going to check and give you a free card or put more money in with a range that can still have air in it, you're good with either a T or a 6, a J would be worth considering flatting another bet, a K or an A could be good shove over cards as could any diamond.

I guess it comes down to are you willing to play back light if you think he's playing back? Do you think villain would raise flop then bet/call T9 on the turn vs an undercard? Diamond? Overcard? If you were villain and did this, what would you do it with and what cards/action would you hate to see on the turn? Do you think you can use that to exploit him?

[Dex]

If you don't think villain is capable of putting in another bet and then folding to strength you show, then I think minreraising the flop is pretty sexy, wouldn't be expected and villain isn't super likely to flat and then lead the turn so you're gonna get plenty of free rivers too.

[minSim]

Alexos; I have no read villain is getting really crazy on these boards with any kind of draw, but I think it's a fair to assume he's aggressive and therefor raising draws light. I also assume that other people assume that a cbetting range is relatively strong on a board like this as we're probably not cbetting hands without any equity nor midle made hands.

I'd rather check A8 then J8, is that right thinking?

Dex: I 2,5x or even 2x when I have players that call super tight out of the blinds (either fold a LOT or 3bet/fold a ton) and I do that with my whole range.

The fact that I'm cbetting and at least consider it profitable is that;
1- We always have a decent amount of FE
2- We are doing great against villains c/cing range as we have lots of equity and enough scare cards to barrel. Therefor betting isn't really turning our hand into a bluff.

[Dex]

Minisim, I completely agree with the validity and profitability of cbetting here. It's more about bet/folding than cbetting, although I know that wasn't really your question I thought it could be interesting to discuss cuz I feel vs this villain he's not going to take a passive c/c line super often, so do we check behind or cbet/call looking for a spot to take the hand down? I kind of went off on a tangent though because I think in blind battles with someone we presume to be a good reg, the weak end or middle of our range is going to be tested on a lot of boards. So I'd rather bet/call or bet/minr because just as I think we are giving up money by bet/folding, villain is going to take us responding with more strength seriously. Which changes the hand from us giving up money to villain potentially giving up more money.

I think a different cbet size could be worth consideration too. $2 potentially manipulates villain into raising slightly smaller if we do want to continue, and $3 has the value of being a psb and these can often stand out. I dunno, just thinking out loud.