For me at least C-Betting is a hugely profitable action. The only thing you really want to be careful of when deciding whether or not to c-bet is if you think your opponent has solidly connected with a flop and he isn’t going to be blown off his hand. Pre-flop action and reads are pretty much the only way you are going to know if that is the case. Periodically you are going to want to vary your play up with checking back flops and firing on turns or 3betting what looks like opponents firing into you because at some point (at least in the lower stakes where I play) guys are going to notice that virtually everytime you are involved in a pot you fire a bet and start to float you a lot (makes turn bets more expensive to deal with, especially if you haven’t connected with anything yourself and just complicated the need to have solid reads on villians). Summing up your cards are probably the least important aspect of c-betting with the flop texture and what your opponents likely holdings (are even more critical what he/she isn’t holding) are far more important. Just be aware of the image you are cultivating with the c-betting and make sure to stay focused on analyzing the action when guys start to play back at you so that you don’t get pushed into spewing chips and it should continue to be a highly profitable activity.

JDOG1645 said:

All the above said remarks is great advice. Also remember to mix up your play. You want to play in a manner that when you c-bet its an equal chance you have a hand, your on a draw or you have total air.  This makes you less exploitable and depolarizes your ranges. Depending on the player really helps me determine to c-bet or not, then the texture of the flop.  I also consider how many players are in the hand my position and stack sizes.  So much to think about. It would probably over the long haul be +Ev to c-bet 95% of all flops but I dont think that helps your game and when you get deep and players have played with you for hours the good ones will exploit this type of strategy.

I think JDog’s last statement is extremely important and shouldn’t be underestimated. Early in a tournament you can c-bet like a wild man and for the most part players aren’t around long enough to be a issue. Late in tourney and you are sitting at a table with names you recognize or guys you have been in and out with for the remainder of the tourney and you are going to have to spend a lot more time planning and thinking about how to approach the pots you are in. If you just aimlessly c-bet flops, deep in they are going to recognize this, float and fire on the turn, or float, check the turn and jam the river (or some such derivative) putting you in horrid spot after horrid spot. Having a predictable c-bet strategy when you get late is quick death.