unknown territory

6-max 2/4 nl.

Kinda donkish, too loose guy (~370) limps utg
guy after him (~2k) raises to 18
all fold to me (~700) in the BB with :9c:tc

I have a very tag image so far. I have only shown down the nut flush and a set in 30 minutes. Opponent is pretty tag as well and had shown an unwillingness to play deep against other people. My thinking was that even though I was out of position and he might even have me crushed with JJ-AA, I can basically bruteforce this pot out of his hands regardless of what comes, and since I have a drawing hand if he happens to flop a monster I can usually have flush or straight outs when I get it in. is this wrong or not. should I have waited to play him in position? I like challenges, so I called.

limper calls. flop is :td:6h:2c.
we check to the pfr who bets 25 into a pot of 56.

I am not sure what this bet means. it could be overcards or it could be an overpair. my original plan was to bruteforce the pot, but who check/raises a set on this board? I would almost always flat-call with a set and try to suck the other guy in. Plus, my hand may actually be good at this point.

I call, other guy calls. pot is 131. Turn is the :ac

now what?

I have a very tag image so far. I have only shown down the nut flush and a set in 30 minutes


imagine that

I probably check, if one of them makes a weak bet i may check raise fairly large trying to take it down there.

I'm not too scared of his continuation bet, par for the course from a TAG player in position -- he was hoping to take it down right there. Your spot is very tough tho ... 9 and 10 are not certain outs after the turn comes A, but that does make the flush a likely out, so give yourself 11 outs (9 for the flush, 1 for the 10 and 1 for the 9), so you need 3.5-1 to make the call.

If you check, he is going to know you are on the flush draw and bet $100 into the pot to get you off your draw and you will have to fold. A big bet here by you is going to be read off easily as a semi-bluff and the A probably just made somebody's hand, so you will probably be looking at a big re-raise or even a push.

At this point, I think I would check, hoping that the donk along for the ride is not sitting on a set and just calls to give me the correct pot odds for my draw, but most likely I am done with this hand. If you are a real gambler and you feel good about your image you could represent the AA and push. :)

Hey cheddar,

Do you check/raise to leave yourself enough to push and have an appreciable amount of folding equity on the river if you miss? Do you push the river if you miss?

Also, what advantage is there to check/raising vs. betting outright?