If you see the Flop and you are truly undecided between checking and betting it is recommended to bet. By betting you won't give away any free cards so you won't get beat on the River by a player who may have folded, also the pot will be greater if you should happen to win.
Should you Flop a good hand the reasons to do so must depend on a number of things: the strength of your hand, how many players are left in the hand, the odds of getting an over-card on the turn or River and your ideas about what the opponents are holding. Your decision should be based on this criterion.
You should bet your good hands for value but its' also good to vary things up and always keep your opponents guessing.
Raising the Flop
What you must remember about raising on the Flop, especially during a low limit game, is that rarely does it force out a player who Flopped any kind of hand at all or any kind of flush or straight draw. The point of raising on the Flop is to build a pot and to coax your opponents into paying.
Always raise and re-raise if you Flop a pair with top kicker and are pretty sure you have the best hand at that point. You are in the best position to win the hand against any single straight or flush draw, and also against any other player with top pair and a weak kicker.
Another good thing about playing your hand in this way is that when a flush is drawn on the board your opponents won't know which of the two hands you have; the top pair or the flush draw. This uncertainty helps you as you will be called more often on the River when the flush card does not come.
It's advisable to play cautiously. If there is a lot of raising on the Flop, it usually means that someone has flopped a set or two pairs and already has a better hand than you. You also have to be sure if one of the raisers is in the blind.
They could have anything in the pocket, got a miracle Flop and are now betting in order to save it.
