hitting a monster in HU

[OopsYouLost]

Suppose I hit a monster on the flop in a HU situation. Since I'm a huge favorite to win the hand and there's few chance that my opponent can beat me (only one opponent). What's generally the best way to play it to get the most money out of it.

1. Slowplaying it and hope your opponent does the betting for you.
or
2. Hoping your opponent hit a pretty decent hand and overbet the pot.
or
3. Your Suggestions?

I know many factors like who/how much was raised PF, is he a tight/loose player, is the board coordinated/uncoordinated, do I have position, etc... influence the decision here but I would like to have some kind of guideline on what to do when I hit.

Your words of wisdom are welcome

[DimitriT]

It really depends on so many factors:

1. did he raise PF? did you?
2. what's your position?
3. what's your table image? aggressive? tight?
4. what read do you have on your opp. aggr? tight?
5. what type of hand do you have? what does the flop look like? could he have caught a piece of it?
6. stack sizes?
7. what is your typical probe/continuation play.. do you leadoff or do you check to the raiser?
8. how long have you been at the table? your opp?

there's probably a few I've missed.

I will often play a monster by putting out a "probe" bet of 1/3 to 1/2 the pot on the flop if I feel my opp. is aggressive or if the flop looks like it may have helped him. The idea is to build the pot for later bets. If he raises, that's a great sign - I will call and let him get more cards. On the turn a second continuation of 1/3 the pot will follow - but I will sometimes check if the opp. has a tendency to push the river bet; I want to appear weak so he will think he can take the pot with a strong river bet. Here I may also minraise an aggressive plr who bets ahead of me. On the river I will put out a very weak probe bet and hope he has enough of a hand to raise me. If I have position I will push hard.

As you can see there are so many variables its hard to describe a "typical" strategy.

[OopsYouLost]

It really depends on so many factors:

1. did he raise PF? did you?
2. what's your position?
3. what's your table image? aggressive? tight?
4. what read do you have on your opp. aggr? tight?
5. what type of hand do you have? what does the flop look like? could he have caught a piece of it?
6. stack sizes?
7. what is your typical probe/continuation play.. do you leadoff or do you check to the raiser?
8. how long have you been at the table? your opp?

there's probably a few I've missed.

I will often play a monster by putting out a "probe" bet of 1/3 to 1/2 the pot on the flop if I feel my opp. is aggressive or if the flop looks like it may have helped him. The idea is to build the pot for later bets. If he raises, that's a great sign - I will call and let him get more cards. On the turn a second continuation of 1/3 the pot will follow - but I will sometimes check if the opp. has a tendency to push the river bet; I want to appear weak so he will think he can take the pot with a strong river bet. Here I may also minraise an aggressive plr who bets ahead of me. On the river I will put out a very weak probe bet and hope he has enough of a hand to raise me. If I have position I will push hard.

As you can see there are so many variables its hard to describe a "typical" strategy.

So I guess it's all about involving level 2 and level 3 thinking into my game and make the best decision based on my read. Thanks anyway, that's really helpful to see how many factors are to be considered. Man! I need to read a good poker book. Any suggestions? What's the best book to read first?

[Miffed22001]

to try and generalize.
let him make the betting if you can. If he doesnt try looking weak/probe betting to try and tag him along. The best may only be that you get him to call small bets all the way to 5th street.
Its not necessarily about getting a huge amount out of the opp its about maximising the amount you can get outta the opp.

well some opponents will go all-in against you on the river if they find the pot to be too big to let go

so just slowly build it and they might bluff at you
and some opponents will not fall for that... you gotta know your man!