Okay, one more. AKs -- good play, or pointless trickery?

[Nick C]

The table was on the tight and aggressive side, and I basically made the turn checkraise because I thought it would work. But how much did I gain (if I bet out and my opponent called down, it would have netted the same for me, unless he abandoned his hand on the river, perhaps after missing a draw), and how often are such plays worthwhile at small stakes? Are they worth the risk of a missed bet? (Plus, potentially anyway, I could've gotten 3-bet by a better hand, though that seems unlikely in this particular case.)

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif. CO posts a blind of $2.
<font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, MP2 calls, <font color="666666">4 folds</font>.

Flop: (6.50 SB) K/images/graemlins/heart.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, MP2 calls.

Turn: (4.25 BB) 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="CC3333">MP2 bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, MP2 calls.

River: (8.25 BB) 9/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, MP2 folds.

Final Pot: 9.25 BB

[Ajax410]

I think I just bet the turn rather than risking missing a big bet.

Alex

[Shillx]

I find that most players will fall into your turn trap unless they don't have jack. That being said here (you say this is an agressive table), my line goes: checkraise flop, bet turn/river. I find that this ties them to the pot much more then going for a turn check/raise does (also you don't risk it going thru). At a passive table, I just lead out here.

Brad

[Webster]

I'd bet the turn - a chackraise might scare the guy into folding - OR you might lose a bet if he checks.

Play it straight forward

[Yads]

I think the check raise here is good if the table is agressive, it's doubtful he's folding here considering an 8 isn't necessarily a scare card.

[jrz1972]

I have this play in my bag of tricks (well, like a little sandwich bag half-full of tricks) that I use against aggressive players. It works most of the time, but is obviously read-dependent.

Sometimes it gets you an extra bet when the guy calls down, but it also has the virtue of inducing a bluff from an aggressive player who was planning to fold to your turn bet but now thinks he has a chance to steal the pot from you when you check into him.