CR small overpairs here is not good IMO, as you can’t stand any heat. You can CR T9o here with the same result, i.e. if he 3bets you will fold, if he calls and puts some pressure later you will fold. Competent opponent is going to 3bet you with draws, big hands and a lot of bluffs if he suspects that you try to play back light.
If I chose to CR here my range would be made mostly of draws, big hands and some bluffs. I think that I can get more value from hands like 88 if I don't CR them on flop (turning them into a bluff).
Ok, to answer your original question about checking behind with AA or 54 here.
There are several reasons, of course, and it applies only to somewhat competent opposition. I am not happy if I get much action on flop and I’d rather control the pot and play a medium sized pot. With this check I balance my range, and stop the attempts of stealing the pot from me when I check flop, if opponent leads into me on turn I will raise almost always. Another point is how well my hand would do against a draw, if he has a hand with 13+ outs, the money that go in on flop go on a 50/50 basis, i.e. my expectation is 0 if I put the money on a blank turn I will be much bigger favorite. I also underepresent my hand can get paid by a bunch of weak hand A5, 88 etc (it goes into balancing my range part too).
If the flop were less coordinated I would be more inclined to choose {bet flop, check turn, call/bet river} line, but I would balance it with some flop checks too.
P.S. I am not sure if my reasoning is very clear. I can elaborate on some points if necessary. I have an intuitive feeling that a flop check is good here against better opponents, but I need to think in order to quantify/logically explain why.Statistics: Posted by Zmej — Fri Mar 16, 2007 10:02 am
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