vegas

in vegas now, or i guess technically in phoenix (stuck here for a few hours). will be in vegas from june 26th-july 10th. holla @ me if you're there.

live TR

live TR-

today i decided to go play 2/5 at the casino. went w/ my usual poker friend.

for those who remember my old TR, the black guy i played with who looked like eddie murphy, he was sitting here tonight. i took a seat next to him...he did not remember me. anyways, tonight he was wearing a hat and glasses so he looked more like -



anyways, table was rocking, or so it seemed. two azn degens, two gambling blacks, and a big fatass w/ a big stack, things looked nice.

i win a small pot when i raise AA, younger guy calls. i earlier saw him l/c 84 pf and bet on 896 board, cking down from there (and was good). anyways, he called my pfr, he c/c-ed 985dd board then c/f-ed Qx turn. i was prob b/f-ing since i didnt see him making any tricky semibluffs/etc.

later on i complete A5 in sb, bb cks after a billion limps. flop AAK, i c/c a bet from big stack. turn 4, i c/c again, river 3, i c/c his $80 bet pretty quick and he says "nice call"/mucks. hmmm

later i sit around after being card dead for about an hour. spike lee got close to me and whispered "yo you haven't played a hand in a hour brah, the next time you gon raise ererybody's gon' fold". i nodded. just as he said this i raise AK in MP. old azn who is pretty damn nitty calls, mumbling to himself. BB who just got to table but is a regular (who also looks like)-



i swear those two were fcking brothers. anyways, he reraises to $70 total or something. i think for like 2 seconds and then just rr to like $400, as he only had like $250 behind. azn guy says "YOU ISOLATE IM I NO GOOD" and folds. howard lederer thinks for like 5 seconds, says "i dont know anything abouit this guy, so good hand i guess" and then mucks QQ faceup. everyone tells me to show and i do, and lederer gets up from his seat, proclaiming "WELL I GUESS HE DOESNT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME EITHER!"

i mumble something stupid about how "i see AK and im all in" and everyone shakes their head discouragingly. old freak mumbles "you didnt even have a pair!" i dismiss this and stack howard's chips

so there's this other black dude at the table...he looked like ****ing



(thats a artist named cee lo who sang that ****ty song 'YOU DRIVE ME CRAAZZZAYYY...song sucks my dick). anyways, he was clearly the mark at the table and was limping 100% of the time. he was so ****ing bad....i got into a pot with him where i called a pfr w/ 87s oop (after a billion came along), flop Q85dd, cked around, turn 4 i bet, cee lo calls, river 7 (lol), i bet again and he calls with AK. hmmm...

i also forgot, but earlier, i opened T8s, ceelo min-raised me. i should have folded given stacks but im a stupid degen and called. flop KTx, ceelo jammed, i fold, he shows KK.

anyways, theres some idiotic pots brewing during this time. i see a newly arrived viet freak come to the table, he loses like half his stack on his first hand...he called a flop bet/called a turn bet, river bricked, opponent checked, azn bet small, opponent c/r AI and azn folds.

i raise QJ early, azn calls. flop 7J9r, i bet, he calls. turn 3, i c/r AI and he calls with A9, losing on the river. he rebuys.

next hand all limped around, flop AT9 w/ 2 ...all ck to the new azn, he bets, hoodie guy (big stack) c/r 3x...azn RE-miniraises and hoodie jams...azn tanks forever (LOLLLL RETARD) and then eventually calls w/ A9, losing to AT.

anyways, hoodie guy is to my direct left. he has got a huge stack and i played w/ him before. he's pretty loose in general, but his 3-betting range is literally AA and KK...he would never 3-bet AK (and he says this). i open QQ in mp, he 3-bets me to $105 (after my $20). i fold after some thought (NIT) and he turns over AA (obv). he says he wouldnt even 3bet QQ there. i told him i folded bitches and he said NICEEE FOLD.

anyways, crazy hand develops...a bunch limp, i overlimp 77. hoodie raises, all call.

flop AK2. short aussie donks, hoodie raises to put him AI, spike lee COLD CALLS behind him for $140, shorty calls the AI. turn Qx, spike checks, hoodie checks. river 4, spike checks, hoodie bets $100 in a massive pot. spike calls him out for playing 35 and calls with QT and loses to both shorty's AQ and hoodie's AQ. lol wtf...

bizarre hand happens shortly after, crazy ceelo has been rebuying non stop, busting sickingly..the process i the same every time- he limps down to about $100 then he finds some spot to spaz jam. he raises pf, a bunch call. flop 886, cked to him, he bets, spike lee c/r-es, ceelo mini-3bets, spike jams, ceelo calls QA high and loses to K8.

ceelo also talks to his wife (or someone) about how he's at the movie theater seeing 'Transformers', also quipping aobut how he's down $1600 the past 2 times he's been at the casino. i wonder why...

i get J9o against viet, i raise he calls. flop KJ4ss, ck/ck. turn 7s (i have 9s) he bets ,i call. river K, he pots it. i hadnt seen him do something like this as a bluff the entire night and i folded. maybe shouldve called though.

some other idiocy...aussie raises J3dd on the button to a limp, old viet calls. flop A5J w/ 2 on board, viet bets $25, aussie miniraises to $50, viet calls. turn 8, viet c/c a $25 bet. river K viet bets $60 (hmm i wonder what you have?), aussie makes it $120 (LOL). viet hos and hums and then jams the last $50 in with 9T and gets so tilted when he loses that he leaves. he'd been bitching all night about how the two brothas at the table had been owning him ("ALL DEY DO IS CRA CRAL CRAAL AND I CAN NAW WIN"). lol viets

i make a pretty horrible ****ing call later on...i raise A4 late, ceelo calls (obv). flop K93, ck, i bet, he calls. this is actually a value bet, as he calls with literally all gutters...its how he 'losese all his money' he says, by chasing.

turn 8, giving me backdoor diamonds. against diff opponents i might bet here, but ceelo is literally going to call w/ any pair here. river 4, he bets alot. i call (pretty dumb) and he shows K8o. i need to fold more. ugh.

not rly any other hands. soem of these were out of order, i just forget them all. bah, w/e. ended up like $365 or somehing so not that bad. LOL BLACKS/VIETS/CHINESE FREAKS

poker stuff

less than a week till Vegas, i'm pumped. in the meantime i have to get ahead on some dicksucking spanish. i think i can pretty much get a chapter done in 2 days, at least that's what i've been doing for the past two. really pisses me off to no end that i'm going to have my vacations ruined by gay fucking spanish class.

poker has been pretty frustrating lately. i've actually been working on not checking my cashier (failed today), as i think it affects my quality of play as well as the duration. i have a problem playing longer while stuck than when i'm winning. i get lazy and just say 'hey, book the win, whatever' instead of continuing to play. today i played a marathon session after losing 5 bi in less than 20 minutes.

anyways, thats something i've been working on. while in vegas, i figure i might as well do something while there (that is, play some WSOP events). i'm too cheap as of now to put down 1.5k or whatever so i got a staker for two 1.5k WSOP events. the deal is 70/30 (tourney profit only), pretty standard i think. on one hand it sortve sucks that i'll only get 30% of myself but i mean, its really zero risk and i'm not going to be doing much else with my time. so whatever.

still working on getting a WSOP ME stake, i put a post in the marketplace staking forum, so maybe someone will bite. i also have two main event freerolls to play on FTP (and ill probably play more tourneys this week) to both a) try to win a package and b) try to get more tourney experience.

also have to try to get back in shape, been a bit lazy while at seattle. the humidity is starting to get out of control here and i'm looking forward to dry heat in vegas. i'm really looking forward to vegas this year, i think we have some cool outdoors stuff planned (climbing, hiking, perhaps a day trip to the hoover dam, i'm not sure).

i've been pretty lazy overall thinking about it...don't really do my school work, don't really do much exercise (i was doing it every day for a while)...don't really read. what a bum i am. i'm currently reading 'The Count of Monte Cristo' and am enjoying it alot (though i havent read it the past few days).

hope ppl are playing/running better than i am. cheers.

seattle TR

k so i guess not all the pics are up, but thats fine. i'm bored, its late (still on pac time)...w/e.

seattle, WA is a pretty damn cool place. i lived there for a year (and was born there) and i go back every 1-2 years (all family is there). the weather is notoriously rainy (obv/everyone knows this), but the summers in seattle are quite nice...it's probably like an average of 70-75 and little/no humidity (compared to NE, this is very nice).

theres ton to do in seattle, especially for outdoors stuff...tons of hiking, mountain climbing, bike trails, some scuba diving (albiet cold), fishing, camping, etc. i'm not really super outdoorsman really but alot of those activities has an appeal to me (or at least hopefully will in the future).

seattle trips for me usually consist of tons of family ****/visits/dinners/etc. we did have some time to do other stuff though, stuff like fishing, hiking, rock climbing (for me).

first few days we fished. i'll add pictures when my family gets pics up. we went to west port, a small fishing town and did rock fish and linkcod (sp?). i ate dim sum the second day and it sucks ass. for all you crackers reading this blog, when you say 'oh, i like chinese food...it's great!', you really have no idea. americanized chinese food is the **** and i love it alot, gimme generals tsos chicken anyday over the traditional ****. traditional hardcore chinese food is nasty as hell...eating chicken feet and all that other bizarre **** is not for me. anyways, dim sum made me disgusted for the rest of the day and i don't want to eat it again for a while.

aside from the drive and waking up early, the fishing itself is pretty fun. it's pretty damn easy, the people fit all your bait/help you if the lines get tangled/etc...really novice fishing i suppose. we hit our 10 fish/person limit but failed on the linkcod limit (a bit harder to catch).

i was able to go to a store in seattle, a place called REI...cool outdoors store that sells lots of camping/hiking/climbing gear.

they also had a 65 foot wall that i got to climb-







cool store/fun wall.

we did more family ****. i was able to meet up with bilbo-san for an evening for dinner downtown. we ate bbq/chatted for a while, good to finally meet him. bilbo was not as old as i thought he would look and was not quite as angry as he is on the forums lol...

along w/ fishing and climbing we went hiking...seattle has some pretty nice hikes. we did some pretty easy ones overall. some were cool, overlooking waterfalls/etc-

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still some snow on the trail-

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overall, good hiking. i also was able to go to a climbing gym in seattle for a few hours, $15 for a day pass, not bad. i def wouldve gone there alot had i lived in seattle.

last day we ate some korean bbq. i havent had it in a while and its really quite good.

i went with my grandma and my uncles/cousin. everyone was having a good time except my grandma, who is 75 and slightly insane. she can't really hear and gets overly excited at times (but still her anyway). throughout the meal she made quips about how 'chinese food was better/etc etc'...whether this stems from a cultural dislike of koreans, i have no idea, but it seems as if all azns hate other azns, so w/e...

anyways, paying for the meal/dinner is always sortve a chinese cultural thing that i've seen...my grandparents always love to pay for the meal/etc, and it just sortve cycles its way through. my dad enjoys paying for the entire tab as well when our extended family meets up. the last lunch we grabbed the tab and my grandma got angry at my sister/dad because she wanted to pay it. she grabbed my sister and declared in broken english that if she couldnt pay for the next meal, she wasn't going.

so anyways, she wanted chinese, but at this point, my siblings and i were like 'ugh, no more fcking chinese, pleaseeee'...so we pretty much duped my grandma into going to korean bbq. everyone was having a jolly time except grandma, who sat in a bitter rage throughout the night.

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so anyways, as stated previously, grandma got up after we were finished to pay the bill. i think she was sortve in shock with how much it was ($195 or something for like 12 of us, which really isn't that bad i dont think)...chinese people are cheap by nature and she kept saying how chinese was better.

i started laughing my ass off when i asked her what she thought of the food. she can't really hear me but when she finally understood my question, she flicked my hand away, started to cuss in chinese and said it was terrible. we soon found out that she didn't leave a tip either, thinking that the restaurant already added some gratuity into the bill (due to our large party). she left not a cent however, and the staff asked my uncles if they were getting a tip.

after we went outside, i asked her again...she started babbling in chinese and gave the equivalent to the middle finger in chinese with both hands, which is a single raised pinkie -



hilarious.

pic of my crazy grandma-

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and finally back home now.

new colors

changed colors so this shit is easier to read

seattle TR coming when i get other pics. little more than a week till vegassssssssssss!

live tr

live tr today-

havent ever played spread limit, but decided to go to an indian casino here in seattle. my friend who went w/ me isn't 21 so NL was not allowed.

the game was 2-40 spread, and the moment i walked in i realized that this place was ghetto as ****. there were like 15 people there along two tables, both of which were dedicated to tourney play.

so my friend and i sat, along with the floor manager (lol i guess he helps start games when needed LOL, how ghetto) and one other ape.

its only 5 handed, the way i like it. to clarify, spread limit means the max bet at one time is $40. so for instance, if someone bet $12, i could raise to $52, he could make it $92, and so on.

std buyin is $200.

i overcall a raise from bb w/ A9 from btn (my friend, who is a competent player but probably is pretty leaky in a general sense...but def good enough to beat up on live players). flop Kx3, cked around. turn T i c/c his bet, thinking he can do it as a delayed cb w/ alot of stupid **** i can still beat/and or can suck out for fun with. river 9x i check/call his small bet and lose to KT. probably misplayed but w/e...im far too loose when playing live and i pay off horribly/splash around too much.

i raise a sb limp to me blind vs. blind (i m in bb) w/ 86s. flop KT4 he cks, i bet, he calls. turn J, he ck, i ck, river Q, he bets $10 into like $50, i make it $40 total and he folds.

overall, spread limit is pretty gay. i didnt adjust v. well though and made plays that might have been good for NL but not so much for spread limit.

i go down alot of money by bluffing in different spots. one was vs. my friend, where i limped Q9, all else come along. flop KT4 w/2 , he bets, i call, all fold. turn 3 he bets small, i call one more. river 3 he bets small, i raise $40 (gay spread limit) he calls w/ KT...in retrospect, this play is terrible given the sizing and how much i can raise/etc. terrible spewy bad HORRIBLE

i start to establish a pretty nutso image by raising everything and getting little respect. the game starts to pick up when this monstrosity of a woman sits down. this lady was like 5'10/260+ and wouldve crushed me like a melon if she wanted. she boasted about how she was an attorney or something and how she 'read people for a living'.

she slowly started to lose her stack, spazzing at infrequent moments and playing tight the rest of the time. i lost $200 and kept reloading. i lost doing some ill fated double barrels and c-bets. i eventually built my stack back up to $400 by making a few goofy plays-

i open 64 early , retard bb calls. flop 332r he c/c my bet. turn 6, he c/c my bet. river 5 he c/c my pot w/ AK and looks in disgust when i turn over my hand. "knew you rivered me" he chimed, as i laughed in his face.

next hand i open J2o otb, bb calls. bb looks like a young tagfish...actually, thinking about it now, more just like a retard. he was a typical live aggro fish that spazzes every few hands and tries to 'outplay' people.

bb calls. flop AK3, he c/c my bet. turn 4, ck/ck. river 5, he c/c my ai (he had less than $40) and he jumped up in disgust when seeing my hand. "WTF!!! SUCH BuLL****TT!!"

i started to cackle and raked in the chips. this brought me back to evenish.

i kept losing alot in small non sd pots, losing w/ gutters and such. pretty ****ing bad calls i think, but w/e i was getting bored.

i lost a flip w/ QQ to AK to the beast chick. she got up like she was on the edge of her tourney life or something and when the Ace turned she started to fist pump, squatting like a ****ing dog and howling in victory. i said 'nice hand' and she shook her head spastically, proclaiming "THATS HOW YOU DO IT! RIGHT WHEN I START PLAYING IT AGGRESSIVELY THEN THATS WHEN I START TO WIN!!!" i nod, thinking "what other way is there to play AK bvb when short stacked?" hmm..

i start to spew more in general. i go back down a few hundred. im quiet for about an hour and a half, no cards whatsoever. im pretty liberal in my openings and my hands sucked dick...i mean, ill play connectors/etc but i kept getting **** like T3o and such.

crazy black dude sits next to me...he's nice, but he sucks dick at poker. oh well, w/e. i guess i sucked dick today too. he limped like every hand and would have moments of spasms where he'd just open ship his remaining $40 on a $5 flop or something.

big lady leaves to go play in this retarded 'tourney of champions'. judging by the demographics, it was megasoft, with everyone either being 1) 60yrs +, 2) white trash looking or 3) all of the above. retards started filling the table as they busted from the tourney.

i misplayed a hand i think...i riase AK, old biker hick miniraises, i make it $40 more otb, he instacalls, flop comes, he blind bets $40, flop comes K24r and i just raise him more, he has AA obv. sigh. there goes pretty much the rest of my $ and i rebuy to $200 more.

big lady comes back and buys in for $100, exclaiming "THATS ALL I NEED LAST TIME TO WIN A BUNCHVE MONEY CHAHCHAHHCHAAHHAHA". she doesnt miss a beat, calling a pfr w/ 53s (w/ like 30bbs) and c/ring 367 board and blind jamming vs. 87s, winning on a 3 turn. she once again got up after she got it in on the turn, fist pumping and screaming "HE'S DRAWIN DEAD HE'S DRAWIN DEAD (he really couldve hit a 7, which would have been ****ing fantastic if it had happened)".

fat lady talks about how she's excellent at reading people. i get bored and i reraise her ep open with 5T, she calls. flop K46dd, she cks, i bet, she INSTA makes it $40 on top, i fold after thought. she flips over 99 and screams "DONT BULLY MEEEE". she must be on crack if she thinks im folding anything better than 99 there. as stated earlier, i have a calilng problem that doesnt get remedied over night.

later on i get AA and open, fatass lady calls. flop Q88, i bet, she snaps, turn 4, i bet she snaps, river i bet she snaps with Q3s and i laugh.

she goes on tilt a hand after and jams 44 and loses to TT. she runs out in a mad fashion, saying "ITS ONLY $25 TODAY I LOST HAHAHAH"

anyways there were a few more dumb hands but i cant remember exact details. final tally was like -200 bucks or something rearded like that. LOL SPREAD LIMIT POKER

theory on playing draws oop

Theory on playing draws OOP as the non aggressor, both in multi-way and headsup-pots-

I’m writing this because I’m on a plane to Seattle and don’t have any internet. I’m bored as hell and thought I should share a concept that I’ve been thinking about lately.

Assume this situation-

100bbs, 6 max. 100NL

Villain opens 3.5x from MP (he is a TAG regular who seems straightforward and not really too tricky). Donkish button calls along, you call from the BB with whatever drawing hand- let’s say 67 for example. While PF can be debatable, let’s not and just assume that you decided to call for whatever reason.

Many players call preflop in these situations. While this is debatable (as stated previously), very often do you see many players make broad postflop mistakes in these instances, oftentimes due to having few if no plan(s) at all postflop. There are a variety of options I’ve been thinking about lately, on different flop textures.

Always have a plan…remember this. While you may not exactly draw out every single flop and the occurrence of each play, having a general gameplan (both in a micro and macro sense- that is, in a broad spectrum and thoughts of your overall ranges, as well as a plan for this hand as it plays out (which, in turn, will fit into your overall game plan).

($10.50)Flop: Assume a variety of flops occur. Think about this one-

3TJ

Very often do I see many small stakes players check/call. I think this sets up a variety of problems, many of which are common sense. I’ll write a few out here-
-You probably aren’t going to get paid if you hit your flush…that is, villain will shut down in most instances (be it check behind if you check to him on a flush turn, and/or fold to a lead).
-Along with that statement, very awkward turn plans- Are you leading into him if you hit your flush? What other hands are you doing this with? What hands do you hope to extract from and further, what are you going to do if raised? Are you checking to him? Are you just going to bet the river yourself if he checks behind? As stated, c/c-ing this flop leaves for very awkward turn play.
-Balance. While this isn’t a gigantic part of a SSNL players game, it should at least be thought about. Many players (even high stakes regulars) can be unbalanced (horribly so) and still beat the game handily. Very rarely will players at a SSNL game dive through HEM/PT and dissect each regular’s leaks, and devise a counter strategy. You just don’t see it often. WITH THAT SAID-
Balance is still an interesting component to think about. If you are one who seems horribly unbalanced, your play is often easy to read in a very traditional/exploitive sense. As with the previous two reasons for c/c-ing being problematic, balance is certainly one to consider when you decide to lead into the aggressor on such a turn when it improves you. Just think about what other hands you’re doing this with and you’ll see that there aren’t going to be too many non-flushes out there.

Now, with this all said, what do we do? It seems as if check/folding the flop with this draw seems a tad weak, right? I mean, isn’t that one of the reasons why we called to begin with? The only problem is that these so called deceptive hands aren’t really deceptive at all, at least in this sense.

There are some strategies we can do to both broaden our ranges as well as create some different semibluff opportunities though.

I’ll copy/paste the same scenario so you don’t forget-

MP (std TAG) raises $3.5. BTN (donk) calls $3.5, you call $2.5 in the BB with 67

Flop: 3TJ, your plan?

1- We can donk it. Remember, the board is 3TJ and we hold 67 after calling a raise out of position. Here in this situation, we can donk the flop (that is, to bet into the PFR). It’s a nice line that I think you can use with a variety of hands, not just flush draws. The second you check/call the flop in most SSNL games, your hand range will be limited to hands such as Jx or draws such as clubs, KQ, 89, etc. Rarely will you be reverse floating, rarely will you check/call something as strong as JT/sets here nor a super draw such as 89 and the like. Donking this flop allows you to donk a wider range of hands, which is always beneficial in an overall gameplan point of view (that is, your donking range does not only include hands that are in your b-3b range but also medium hands and draws that you can bet/fold). With that said, villan CANNOT simply raise your donk with abandon, especially given the fact that you’ve donked into two others.

It also allows you to play most turns fairly easily (and same with flop- if you’re raised, it’s a pretty easy fold from either player. Our hand does not stand up well from an equity stance against either’s raising range).

2- We check/raise. This option is fine as well, as it creates a semi-bluff opportunity and allows us to further broaden our range. There are, however, a few problems with check/raising-
a. We sometimes get blown off our hand if we are 3-bet. While this isn’t a huge loss, a flush draw typically has at least 30% or so equity wise (obviously much much less if up against a higher flush draw).
b. Sometimes villains call and we’re forced to make tough decisions on the turn. I suppose we can just c/f.
c. We sometimes get into an awkward situation where we check to the PFR, he bets, donkey calls, and then what? Are we going to c/r huge? I think at that point, c/c-ing almost becomes better. I’m still unsure of this though.
d. Actually, after rethinking things, I’m not so sure I like c/r-ing as much. But I think its still okay to a degree.

I think overall, I like the donking plan the best. I like to donk a lot of boards and I think my overall gameplan/range is pretty decent. As stated previously, I think that having a wider range will absolutely allow you to do more things postflop. And a flush draw in this situation doesn’t have to merely compose of your donking range. Here, I think I’d donk KQ, clubs, weaker straight draws such as 89, Q9 (if I ever made it that far), Jx (where x= Q/K/A/9/whatever, doubt I’ll make it here with J2 but meh), JT+, sets, and super draws (fd+sd or so).

Also, sorry if all these thoughts seem unorganized. I’m pretty tired and hopefully you’re still following this random rambling.

I’ll go through turn plans now.

I think the cool thing about both check/calling and/or donking is that you can use extra cards as ‘outs’. Say you decide to check/call the flop (you check, PFR bets, donk folds, you call). And as stated before, you don’t necessarily have to just be c/c-ing flush draws or what have you. If I made it to KQ in this specific spot (same situation as above, just with KQ instead of 67s), I don’t mind playing it the same (either donking or c/c-ing, sometimes c/r-ing). The nice thing about KQ or straight draws or even weaker hands such as gutters is that against many SSNL opponents, your play is going to be face up. That is, you’re going to bet the flush when you have it and check it when you miss. With that said, say you had KQ in this situation instead of 67s and decide to c/c the flop.

Turn: 2
You donk into him on the turn. Very interesting, no? You can use these flush cards as extra outs with KQ, not just the A and the 9. And as I said, many of your opponents are going to sigh and fold a large portion of their range.

This can obviously be used in headsup pots as well, I just chose to give the example in a multiway format. I would definitely be more hesitant to use this play had PFR bet, donk called, then we overcalled with such a hand.

Here is really my main question though, and the basis/question behind this entire ramble. Assume this situation-

Folded to BTN who raises 3x on the button. SB (donkey) calls. You call A9 from the BB. Debatable again, but who cares? One thing I always advocate during coaching sessions is having your own preflop style. As long as you can justify your raises, I’m not going to bitch at you for opening or calling too light. Now, if you’re making a gigantic fundamental mistake (3-betting UTG raisers with 22 and calling off your stack against a TAG or something), I usually always say something…but as far as I’m concerned, people can open or fold as many hands as they prefer. Whatever they care to do, meh.

Ok, with that little tangent over, you have A9 in the BB against a BTN raise and a donkey call. I decided to make this a mult. Pot because if it’s headsup, it’s less likely that you’re going to check/call the flop (not saying that you can’t, just that it’s more rare).

($10.50)Flop: T2J
SB checks, you check, BTN bets $8.5, SB folds, you call (debatable, but whatever)

($27.50)Turn: 6
GIN! Your play??

As stated before, a lot of players will donk out here. And there are obviously valid reasons. Villains will check behind a large portion of his range, even those that have good equity against us still (ie. A set). And if we decided to peel with the non nut-flush draw (that is, some lower flush draw), villain can often check behind with the Ac, which could spell disaster for us on the river.

Do we still donk? I think that I prefer checking in a balance sense, but I’m still unsure of the play. Here are my reasons-
-As stated, I’m usually check/raising or donking a set on the flop. By c/c-ing, my range is more weighted towards draws and more marginal hands. I know I said that I include Jx in my donking range on the flop but that doesn’t mean I’d always do it with that such hand. So my hand range is typically going to be pretty marginal, and I’d say I check most all hands to him in general (although I’d be apt to leading a semibluff hand like KQ on the turn perhaps).
-I think which turn card is pretty important. Had it been something like a King or Ace that completes our flush (obviously we’d have to have a lower flush draw for the ace to come on the turn, having two Ac is impossible), we might be more inclined to check again to villain. We will allow him to both hang himself further (ie. He will bet the turn with all value hands as well as bluffs and semibluffs) while still disguising the strength of our hand. When it’s a relative blank though, its obviously harder to get him to barrel something away.

But do I c/c or c/r? I suppose c/r seems better, though it depends on stacks. I think that c/c is actually a pretty cool play though (with checking most every river). I don’t really see many using this line with a flush and I think it still portrays a weaker range, allowing our opponents to both barrel with value AND bluffs (if he were to ever do so. Sure, if he’s bluffing, he’s unlikely to fire a third barrel, but he’s not going to call a check/raise anyways).

Anyways, I know I’ve written a ton on this subject and I don’t want to waste your time with more tangents. I still have a lot more thoughts as well…I’ll have to save it for the next plane ride.