My reasoning for the preflop 3 bet is if I flat I am for sure going to be 4-5 handed and I would just have to pot control/play defensive with any 1 pair hand. Also no one was 4 betting. I am much more comfortable playing a big pot with just one pair in this spot, and I think it is more likely that I can win by bluffing more often.

We have position for the rest of the hand.

I like flatting pre with suited aces, hoping that dominated draws come along out of position.

I like flatting pre with some hands (like AJ) that are usually good when they hit against a typical opening/calling range (AT,QJ,etc.), but are frequently only called by a dominating range when I 3bet (AK,JJ,etc.)

I'm pretty much calling here 90% of the time.

tl;dr synopsis: 3betting AJs folds out everything we hope to get value from post flop, and leaves in everything that has the potential to win a big pot from us (set miners, better broadways, and premiums.)

bet flop. turn was a horrible raise. wtf do you rep when you checked back flop? but I guess it's 5/5 and not a lot of people who play that game would realize it.

as played I'd bet small like 650.

Good post. I feel this way about flatting it preflop, and it's what I would usually do. 3 betting it isn't bad, but I prefer flatting for the reasons above.

As played check behind river. Don't see any hand calling you. Though someone's suggestion earlier of betting 500 is interesting.

I'd say 98% of the time I would just flat pre, and either call a flop bet and not fold the rest of the way or bet if checked to. I felt like taking a different line largely because of how wide everyones preflop range was and it just seemed like people should have been getting punished more than they had been.

Then maybe you should polarize your 3bet range more?