3-bet the flop or wait till the turn?

[Vazh]

This is pretty much my default play. Am I missing bets by 3-betting the flop rather than waiting to raise the turn? HU I'm more likely to wait. UTG is a decent player, he could raise top pair or second pair here.

Absolute Poker 2/4 Hold'em (7 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
UTG calls, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, CO calls, Button calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, UTG calls, CO calls, Button calls.

Flop: (8.50 SB) Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">UTG raises</font>, CO folds, Button calls, <font color="CC3333">Hero 3-bets</font>, UTG calls, Button calls.

Turn: (8.25 BB) 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, UTG folds, Button calls.

River: (10.25 BB) 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, Button folds.

Final Pot: 11.25 BB
<font color="green">Main Pot: 10.25 BB, won by Hero.</font>
<font color="green">Pot 2: 1 BB, returned to Hero.</font>

Results in white below: <font color="white">
Hero shows Ad As (one pair, aces).
Outcome: Hero wins 11.25 BB. </font>

[JohnShaft]

I normally don't advocate this, but on this board I think you can wait till the Turn, and then checkraise, because

1. The board has almost no draws, barring one not likely gutshot.
2. CO will very likely have to bet the Turn because of the presence of the Button.
3. You can trap the Button in the middle of the Checkraise.

So yeah, here I think you can wait. If you 3-bet the flop you WILL kill your action from a good UTG, unless he has you beat.
You really do have to be very sure of a bet on the Turn though. But I think in this situ you mostly can be. Hopefully you get read for a missed AK or underpair until you CR the Turn.

[J.R.]

Check-raise.

There is no win a bigger pot v. win the pot more frequently debate, since neither option is likely to induce a fold from your opponents. So the issue is which alternative gets the most money into the pot (assuming you are ahead). There are few draws, so its not like UTG is semi-bluffing and therefore UTG is likely to bet the turn and a cheaper card is not really that dangerous as your hand is pretty robust here. The presence of the coldcaller who can get trapped for a double bet on the turn really makes check-raising a more profitable option and also lends credence to the fact that UTG is likely to bet the turn if you just call the flop.