Help with my AK

From memory, sorry. I am in early position with AKs. Villain is MP. Villain is pretty TAG, 14/6/6. She plays pretty good. I have $52, she has $61. Party Poker $50 NL.

I get AK /images/graemlins/diamond.gif folded to me, I raise to $2, folded to Villain who calls, folded to button who calls, blinds fold. 3 players see flop:

(~$6) K /images/graemlins/club.gif 2 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif

I check, intending to checkraise.

Villain checks, button bets $5, I raise to $15, Villain calls $15, button folds.

(~$40) Turn: 6 /images/graemlins/club.gif

I check, villain checks.

River: 4 /images/graemlins/heart.gif

I check, villain bets $30, I call.

How would y'all have played this differently?

[DoomSlice]

First off, to go for a checkraise you should know that your opponent is aggressive enough to bet it.

Second, do you think a tight player is going to call a checkraise with a mid-low pair? Probably not.

Third, now that you missed the flop checkraise, it's time to bet, especially since you might somehow get outdrawn by clubs.

[ryanghall]

I would have bet the flop. Any good player should have alarm bells going when a flop like this comes down and you don't bet.

If they call, bet around 2/3 pot on turn.

As played, you can certainly value bet this river.

Ryan

[xcrack999]

I would bet out the flop. If you have a read that button is a total maniac, I guess checkrasing is all right. The problem with checkraising is if you get called, you'll be out of position for the rest of the hand in a bloated pot, and that gotta be a sucky situation. I might also block the river for about half the pot. I don't want KQ to check behind and another AK to take the pot away from me.

I would lead the flop rather than check-raise. Unless you are doing this from time to time as a bluff, check raising is going to very clearly define your hand to everyone - so after that point you're only getting action if beat.

Given the C/R I would probably check the turn as you did, then block with a 1/3 pot bet on river (folding if raised). This way you extract the most value from a weaker K which is what you have to hope he has. There aren't any draws he could have on the flop (other than a gutshot, which he doesn't call the C/R with), so I would put him on a made hand and thus the $30 at the end isn't a bluff. As played I fold the river.

[amoeba]

do you also check raise the flop with QQ here?

[ QUOTE ]
do you also check raise the flop with QQ here?

[/ QUOTE ]

Given that precise situation, I would have check-raised with air. In a garden variety game, no, I lead with QQ here. In this situation, though, I was first to act, I had a tight player to act behind me, and the button was very LAG. I maybe should have included that in my original post. Button was auto-betting every time even one player checked to him, no matter how many people were left to act behind him. So my thinking on the checkraise was: other than my King, it is a pretty ragged flop that probably missed everybody. But the lag/button will bet if it is checked to him, so at least I can get his bet in addition to the pot. So I expected the flop action to be I check, Villain checks, button bets, I raise, Villain folds, button folds.

(I went passive precisely because the TAG villain called my raise.)

In my view, calling the river was a clear mistake, but I wanted opinions on any others that might have been there.

I bet out ~6 on the flop. Playing it the way you did, i like the check on the turn because you don't want to build the already large pot with just one pair (had you bet out on the flop, I would have also led the turn, however). C/c on river doesn't look bad at first, but what what could a TAG player be holding here that you can beat? Looks like a blocking bet would have done well on this river? I put villain on 99 or 22 btw.