Gonna post some hands - have at em - I'm brand new to this. Feel free to suggest other lines, where I missed bets/value, where I'm spewing, etc etc.
If there are any stats or numbers that make any difference, well, I probably don't have them yet since it's my first day or two of this.



Full Tilt Poker
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $0.50/$1
5 players
Converter

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is SB with 7 9
UTG folds, CO raises, Button calls, Hero calls, BB calls.

Flop: 2 4 9 (8SB, 4 players)
Hero bets, BB folds, CO raises, Button folds, Hero 3-bets, CO calls.

Turn: 7 (7BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, CO calls.

River: J (9BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, CO calls.

Results:
Final pot: 11BB

pf can be a fold, but I don't hate it, especially if BB is loose.

I c/r the flop, and call down from a 3b (c/r the turn when we hit two pair).

Why c/r the flop? As played, hero gets in 3 bets on the flop and gets it down to just 1 opponent, which seems good.

Let me guess at some possible answers and see how I do ...

1. A c/r might get the button to call, getting one more bet.
I don't think that is it, because a lead out might get BB to call (although not as likely).

2. Check raising is cool because it slows down people after you on future hands when you check.
No, I don't think that is the answer - while true, we are mostly just talking about this one hand.

3. By leading out, CO may just call, losing us a bet. But going for the c/r with 3 players still to act, almost certainly someone will bet (probably preflop raiser), making our c/r successful for 2 bets.
Maybe. It is ignoring the results based analysis that hero actually got in 3 bets, This answer says in general a certain 2 bets is better than risking getting called for only one bet. It makes it more likely button calls, since it is only one bet to him before we get our chance to c/r.

4. ???

Peace,
Opie