Misplayed A-Q hand

[kingstalker]

Paradise 5+0 rebuy
blinds 600/1200 with 75 ante
I have 19,000 in chips,recently lost half my stack in a series of hands and that may be the reason I was gun shy in this hand.
I am dealt A-Qo in the SB
MP (20,000) bets 2400, I call,BB calls
Should I moved in here?
Flop is
10-J-A rainbow(I hated this flop) I checked,SB checks and MP bets 5000
I folded, Im thinking I should of moved all in on the flop hoping my aces were good but if not I have a inside straight draw , was check folding a bad play here?

[C M Burns]

I would have bet and folded to rr, you don't have a great hand, but it very likley could be best, you have to give it a test, the bet after your check could be anything.

[ajizzle]

I think check fold is the worst play you could have made, and that is because you open the door for MP to do exactly what he did.

I like the call PF, because you don't want to be risking huge stacks of money PF with AQo, but when you hit your top pair on the flop, a slightly less than pot size bet is essential given the size of the pot and the size of your stack. This discourages him from popping you with lesser hands like KJs or Ax or Pocket Kings, Queens. (a small bet like 1200 screams out "feeler bet" or "monster" and entices MP to raise you to see where HE is at). A pot size bet forces him to re-raise you all-in, in which case it is a pretty easy fold IMO, or forces him to fold. I hardly see him cold-calling a 5000 bet with in this position, and if he does, he is unlikely to be holding AK.

Mind you, in his position, he could be on a blind steal with a large range of hands. Any Axs, two face cards, smaller pair, etc. Checking the flop is a very passive move unless you are planning to check-raise all-in (which i think is also a bad move). Betting substantially seems to be the only right move in this situation, and makes the play further down the line much easier.