Against a thinking TAG.....

[Shillx]

I have thought about this for literally 30 minutes and I haven't come up with a good reason for him not to play Ax slow. The only problem comes in when it gets to the 3rd level or somewhere far beyond the scope of my thinking abilities. So when the villian says "he will never have an ace here", you pop the check/raise with A3 and he looks foolish when he value calls down with Q9 (knowing that you have 65s or something). I know I've done this and the guy had the damn ace everytime. But until you reach this point, it makes no sense to play an ace fast.

Having said that, most people will play Ax in the manner that the villian played this hand (even better opponents). If you are going to do anything before the river, I would start putting bets in on the flop. If you decide to just smoothcall, I would intend on raising the river. If he has Ax, you get 3 bets no matter if you raise 4th or 5th. If he has a draw, you win 2 bets no matter what street you raise. But if he has nothing, you win that extra bet by waiting. If you are looking to get paid by Ax or Kx, just go ahead and 3-bet the flop.