Good way to play this hand?

This was from a $25 NL ring game, and I have AKs UTG. I raise 2x BB and get 1 caller.

Flop: K Q 8 rainbow

I check, he bets $.75, I call.

Turn: K

I check again, he bets $1.50, I call.

River: 9

I bet $5, he pushes in for $6.50, I call.

Turns out he had AQ and now I have his whole stack : :D

Is there a better way to play this? I had been at this table for a while and hadn't seen many good hands, so if people actually were paying attention I would be perceived as a rock aggressive. I like to mix it up a bit, and on occasion I will let people bet into me when I have TPTK. I know many of you will tell me I should bet or raise on the flop and turn, but do I need to gain any information with a set and top kicker? My goal on the river was to make him think I was trying to buy it. I suppose it worked this time :)

I'm not sure what I would have done if he had a larger stack, I would probably have bet the flop instead of messing around.

What do you guys think of just pushing in on the river? In my experience it seems like I get more calls when I stop short of forcing people all-in.

Well you took all his money, so I think that you played that hand fine. :wink:

But could he have taken more?!

No.. you played it well.

Maybe pot commit him a little bit earlier with a raise but you cant argue with the end result. Of course the tactic you used is read dependant.

-'rilla

The problem with not betting on the turn was that he could have been looking for that straight, and he might have caught it in the river. Next time try to bet when theres a possible straight draw on the board so that the one calling you has to think about his chances of hitting his draw on the river. In this case he didnt have a draw but maybe next time he will. I guess that things turned out ok so it doesnt matter...but nexxt time bet something on the turn.


-anto

I generally try to make my move as early as possible in NL. I would have raised the flop or the turn. It gives me early information to the strength of the opps hand and I can change by betting accordingly. You really dont know what this guy has throughout the hand... Leading the bet on the river is a bit dubious in my opinion but looks ok since he doesnt have alot of chips to being with. Also, maybe 3x on the preflop raise

Since the broadway Str8 draw is out there I'd have come out firing on the flop. If I was going to check, I'd check/raise rather than check/call and then lead out on the turn. That's just me, I don't slowplay much with just TPTK.