Too fancy or just fancy enough?

[Apoc]

2/4 online game that I am killing (up $100 in about 45 minutes)...I'm in BB with AKo, and surprisingly it's folded all the way around to the SB who just calls. I raise it up and he calls.

Flop comes A95 (rainbow), SB checks and with no draws on the board, I decide to check as well, trying to represent that I don't have an A so that he'll bet on the turn if he's got one or perhaps bluff if he doesn't. (Is this thinking correct?). FWIW, I would have raised immediately if the board had been uglier.

Turn comes a blank, completing the rainbow...sure enough, the SB bets out and I call.

River comes another blank, SB bets, I raise, and he calls.

My question is whether this is good heads-up play, or am I just cruising for a bruising?

Apoc

[Homer]

Good play. It could be better to raise the turn depending on what card came, but it could have just as easily been better to wait until the river.

Way to use your opponent's tendencies (unwillingness to check twice) against him.

-- Homer

[eMarkM]

Decent play. Only problem is I get suspicious whenever someone raises preflop and then checks behind on a A high flop in a HU situation like this. I expect a bet just about 100% of the time when I check the flop and when it gets checked behind I immediately think "big hand". I would fold to a turn raise most of the time. So waiting until the river to spring is the better play in this situation, especially if he's just trying to bluff you off.

Your play got more money out of this opponent in this situation, but another play is betting the flop, which your opponent will expect you to do with just about anything in this situation, and then check the turn making him think you fear an A. This can induce a bluff on the river and you can raise there. This works if you think he is tight enough to fold to a turn bet, but aggressive enough to bet after you've shown weakness.

[Allan]

You've also got to remember to balance this type of play with the more standard flop bet. This way when you make it to the river with your top pair, your opponent knows you are capable of many different things. He's seen you check your top pairs and he's seen you bet them as well. Does he have it or doesn't he? keep em guessing.


Allan

[Louie Landale]

The real key to heads-up play is semi-bluffing with marginal hands and having the opponent fold. To accomplish that you need to bet your good hands assertively; otherwise they will be rightfully suspicious when you DO bet.

So you MAY have eaked out a little more EV on this one with the slow-play, but you have hurt your long term short-handed play against this player.

- Louie

[Apoc]

So if I believe this player is someone who will not fold heads-up when he hits any part of the flop, wouldn't that decrease the importance of straight-forward betting as air cover for my marginal hands? In fact, wouldn't I rather he question whether it's smart to bet into me even though I've shown weakness since I've been tricky with slowplaying before?

Mainly playing devil's advocate, but curious if my thought process against no-fold players heads-up is on target here?

Thanks, Apoc