Quote Originally Posted by zook
Out of curiosity, what do you put a pre-flop raiser on when he check/calls this kind of flop? Or a 973 rainbow? Or a 862 two-tone? I'm unsure of my best line when oop with initiative and medium-strength but vulnerable hands. I feel like betting turns them into bluffs to some extent and these boards are great for opponents to bluff raise. I've been check/calling more, which obviously allows opponents to outdraw, but I think they're unlikely to bluff turn overcards because they're still in my range. Thoughts?
I feel this is really history dependant. Basically if I feel like I've been picking on a guys cbets a lot and making life difficult for him on the flop when I have position then I will be expecting him to a) start check/folding the flop a lot more as the PFR and b) go for a check/raise or check/call the next time he flops a hand with decent strength (TPGK+) and I will readjust using those assumptions. If I don't feel there is much history between me and a villain who decided to raise preflop and c/c a flop out of the blue then I'm usually putting him on a medium strength hand and I will often fire multiple barrels as a bluff.

Also I agree with your analysis a lot and I think that check/calling with mid strength hands does have merit. It's a rather hard line to balance (and we do need to balance because our perceived range is rather fuzzy) though because we're OOP, are playing without the initiative and are denying ourselves opportunities to gain information about the strength of our opponents range. Hence when we balance with bluffs we get owned more and when we balance with strength we miss value.