[TStoneMBD]

i think waiting until the turn to raise in hand 1 is ok as long as you are willing to fold to a 3bet. if your plan was to just call down i find this to be very poor. raising the flop in hand 1 will only lead to a 3bet by better hands and wont protect your hand when youre ahead anyway. however, if villain is aggressive enough that he will 3bet the flop with AK then the obvious move is to raise.

in hand 2, not 3betting this flop is terrible imo. raising the turn is also a bad idea in my opinion because you have to call the 3bet with your gutshot and will pay off on the river. i understand that you want to eliminate the other player, but at this point unless one of them has AQ youre beat here almost every time. the correct time to protect your hand was on the flop, not the turn. considering the range of hands that UTG could have openraising that youre ahead of, it doesnt hurt to have him in the pot. he could have a hand like AK, AQ and youre making him fold a hand that would pay off. of course you are risking splitting the pot if a jack comes, but considering that you are only going to be ahead on the turn here less than half the time i think that calling down is really the correct play.

i think the river value bet in hand 2 is good. originally i didnt like the bet and was agreeing with hockey, but since the player coldcalled and didnt 3bet the turn you should be ahead of his range of hands. stats play a huge role here and i wish you included them in your post. against the average fish i bet he shows down KJ, QJ, AQ, TJ almost always. if he is solid then checking the river seems right.