Am I Just Playing Scared? Or is this a good check?

[ajizzle]

Stars 5r, 3rd hour. Blinds 300/600/50.

Prvious hand was my first at this table, and this is how it went.

I raise to 1800 two off the button with As5d. My stack is 33k. SB calls with 16k behind. BB calls with 70k behind.

Flop comes Ah 6s 7s. check, check, check.

Turn, 7h. check, check, i bet 2200 and win the pot.

Next hand, I get AKs. raise to 1800. only sb calls. hes got 68k behind.

Flop comes Qh 9s 4d. check, check.

Turn is Ks. He bets 3k, i call.

River is As. check, check.

Too weak on the river, given the action on this hand, and the fact that i just won the last hand, which was the first at my table?

[KneeCo]

He has no reason to think you would bet here as you haven't shown much strenght at all on the flop or turn, so I don't think he made the flush and is looking to c-r. As such, I bet.

When considering whether or not a villain is going for a check raise, I always try and reimagine the the hand from their POV, in this case, I can't imagine he has good reason to think you would bet.

For what it's worth, I also throw out a cont. bet on the flop HU with AK.

[ajizzle]

my intentions with both the first two hands gave me the perfect opportunity to give off the impression that I ONLY bet when I have some semblance of a hand. Therefore, my continuation bets will be far more effective as a get closer to the bubble, when they matter the most.

I have been getting my continuation and probe bets popped a lot lately. Its as if they can see my cards. So I have been trying out some different plays, betting with nothing on the turn more often, and cutting back my continuation bets to about 60%.