Having nearly busted out of a MTT last night with AQ against AA with a AQx flop, I feel your pain, but have some questions for you:
When you bet the flop, what hand did you put the villian on? (Hint: It could be almost anything.)
When you bet the turn, what hand did you put the villian on? (Hint: He called your pot-sized flop bet, so he likely had a made hand, rather than a straight or flush draw or just overcards. You beat TPxK and an overpair, but how about a set?)
When you bet the river, what hand did you put villian on? (Hint: He called a bet of 1000. I think you can pretty much rule out overcards, single pair, and flush and straight draws. What do you think that he has that you can beat?)
Similarly, what hand do you think villian was putting you on? (In my experience, it's often tough to push a player off of a set or higher unless the board looks dangerous.)
Finally, to quote
strassa:
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Remember, the bigger the pot, the more incentive there is for your opponent to make a play with nothing. Keep the pot under control . . . . Very rarely in no limit holdem is it correct to value bet all three streets IMO.
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As strassa also suggests, you often get more information from checking and reacting, then just betting.
The Shadow