Weak tight AJs

[Flounder]

I'm feeling pretty confident in loose passive games (thanks largely to the advice on this forum), but I'm not as comfortable when the aggression starts up. An example was this .25/.50 game I was in tonight. It started out fairly loose aggressive with one real maniac. By the time this hand came around it had become more passive, but about half the hands still had preflop raises. Multiple raises after the flop were the norm, too. I responded by tightening up and being aggressive when I had a hand. With a marginal hand like this one though, I wasn't quite sure how to play it. I think I really butchered it.

UB .25/.50 I'm dealt AJs (spades) on the button. Two limpers to me. I call. In a passive game I would raise this, but I guess I was scared of the reraise from the blinds. Those two players had shown a fair amount of aggression preflop. I think this was my first mistake. SB calls. BB checks. 5 to the flop.

Flop - 6d Tc 7s
Checked around to me. I'm not quite sure what to do here. If someone had bet and gotten a few callers, I would have folded. I don't want to bet out into 4 opponents because I only have 6 outs and a backdoor flush. On the other hand, a bet might clear the field allowing my ace to win unimproved. On the third hand, I could be walking into a checkraise. I check.

Turn - 5s (6d Tc 7s)
Checked to player on my right who bets. I considered raising here. He's either on a smaller flush draw or a straight draw. In either case, I'm a big favorite heads up unless he has a pair (or a straight) already. People at this table have been calling raises and reraising quite a bit though, and I think it's unlikely a raise would clear the field. That's my story anyway. I call. BB calls, the other 2 hands fold.

River 7h (5s 6d Tc 7s)
Well, no flush, and probably no straight either. Both opponents check to me. I guess that both were on draws that failed to come in. Either my ace is good, or they have low pairs they might fold. I decide to bet out. Both fold.

On each street I thought about being aggressive, but made the passive choice (except on the river). I just couldn't bring myself to believe my hand would be good with 4 opponents. Of course, the only reason I had so many opponents is that I wasn't aggressive from the start. Am I right in thinking that I should have raised preflop, bet the flop, raised the turn and bet the river?

[crockpot]

i don't like your preflop play, although i think you did okay from then on. the turn and river are definitely close and debatable plays.

preflop: if you believe the blinds will make it three bets with a worse hand than yours, wouldn't you welcome this action? if you're afraid he will bet you out of the pot later, just vow to call him down (or raise him) with your unimproved ace high unless the board gets very scary or there is another caller.

on the flop i do like your check whether or not you have raised preflop. people are going to call you, and sometimes you will see any pair call down to the river when the pot gets big. betting does not accomplish much here, so why do it?

your turn and river play depends on who the opponents are. any rational player will have a pair if he has a straight draw here since he will only be playing connected cards (unless he has perhaps A8 or K8). if you expect the raise to clear the field, and the bettor is a loose player, raising to get a free showdown is not a bad play.

as for the river, it depends on who you're playing. i would check it down against most of the people i know who would call this bet with pocket twos, but if you think at least one of them will fold a small pair here often enough, go ahead and bet.

[lil']

You missed a very easy pre-flop raise.