AQs in BB... many decisions

[ZootMurph]

CO is pretty tight/solid player. He could be going for a steal here, or have a hand.

I know my first mistake was not 3 betting preflop to find out if it was a steal or actual hand. I thought I'd call showing I'm weak and test him on the turn if I hit something. Second decision is whether or not to three bet the flop. He's reraised my bet when I hit TPTK. Would have played much easier if I three bet preflop.

Then, because I played it badly to this point, it makes it tougher on the turn. I'm now lost because of the bad play.

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (10 handed) converter

Preflop: ZootMurph is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
<font color="666666">6 folds</font>, <font color="CC3333">CO raises</font>, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, ZootMurph calls,

Flop: (4.33 SB) 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">ZootMurph bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">CO raises</font>, ZootMurph calls.

Turn: (4.16 BB) 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
ZootMurph ???

[DaveFoldsFive]

Check-raise.

[Nate tha' Great]

3-betting preflop should be your standard play. Recognize that, but just calling, you're underrepresenting your hand strength. Underrepresenting your hand strength can be a winning strategy against a loose aggressive player, but against a tightish/solidish player, it can create problems.

Betting out on the flop is fine; it's got a bunch of face cards, and those are his part of the deck, so he's very often going to raise. In fact the point of betting out is precisely to get him to make that raise, since you'd very much like to get 3 bets in with the probable best hand. Clear, easy 3-bet. Especially clear since he could be raising for a free card and you need to retain the initiative in the hand and not let him do that.