Maniackid11 said
I would say some of the circumstances that change whether we bet or check this flop is stack size? If he was deeper we should consider betting the flop.

As a general rule, yes, we can continuation bet more frequently at deeper stacks. More opportunities to barrel without risking significant portions of our stack, more chance that villain calls once with weak hands that can’t call again, and less chance that villains shove. However, when considering a c-bet at any stack depth, you need to consider what it accomplishes. Unlike a flop of T63 or 774, we don’t benefit nearly as much from denying equity to hands that will fold on J95. We’re also way less likely to get value from weaker A-highs on this flop. If we consider the villain’s likely UTG+1 range for calling an MP 3bet, this board is extremely dangerous.

Villain arguably shouldn’t have any 3bet calling range at ~17bb, but let’s work with a 40bb range to see how it might look. I’m going to assume villain jams KK-JJ, AK, AQs and traps with AA. I think we can play against a range of AA, AQo, AJ/ATs, KQ/KJs, QJs, TT-88.

At 40bb you can call 3bets wider than that from EP if you play excellently postflop, but it is hard to go much wider profitably. I’d strongly consider folding KJs/QJs/88 since the 3bet came from MP rather than LP or the blinds. In the actual hand, villain shows up even wider, but let’s focus on something we’d expect to see more often.

If we work against that range, we can expect folds to our cbet from ~ 18 / 40 combos (AQo, ATs, 88). Sounds good, but we’re already crushing 12 of those combos. There’s not much need to deny equity from 3 outers with only a few BD straight draws, and we may occasionally pick off a bluff on later streets. KQs is the only hand we’re ahead of that we’d usually expect to continue.

Unfortunately, it’s a terrible board for c-betting light in a 3bet pot, regardless of stack depth. I’d prefer it if we had a BDFD and/or lower showdown equity, but I’m generally looking to play somewhat snug on this type of board. Although they don’t usually have nut advantage, the player that calls a 3bet often has range advantage over the 3bettor on Q and J high boards.

For 3bet pots, especially in position, you may also want to consider checking many value hands on these kinds of boards, for both pot control and deception/balance. The inflated pot does increase the value of protecting your hand/taking the pot down now, but waiting for the turn to invest more chips can make our one pair hands easier to play, and the shallower SPR often still allows our better hands to set up river shoves with a delayed c-bet.