I wouldn't call the villain in this hand a TAG, because that's pushing it, but he's not afraid to bet and raise when he has a big hand.

Game is only 6-handed at this point.

Villain opens UTG, folds around to me in the BB with ATo. At game speed I decide to defend my big blind. Full ring I probably fold it in this criminally-raked game, but shorthanded I felt like I needed to splash around a bit more. In retrospect I probably needed a read that the villain would open wider from UTG 6-handed than he would 9-handed, and quite honestly, I don't think he would, so defending might have been a mistake.

Flop comes AA4. I don't know if I was tired, or distracted, or stressed out, or what, but I honestly don't remember exactly what happened. The next thing I remember is the villain asking me, "Did you act?" I was flustered and said, "uh, yeah, I checked..." and he said, "I checked too" I was really confused until the dealer pointed out that I put out 8 chips. I truly don't remember putting them out. The dealer told me to just pull them back and then she put out the turn card.

Turn is a T giving me a full house. I *had* to bet there because of my distraction on the flop, but honestly, I think it's the right play. If he has nothing I'm not going to get paid anyway and with this monster I need to start building a pot. Villain called.

River is a Q. I bet and the villain happily and enthusiastically raised.

At Winstar (as I'm sure is the case in many casinos), when the river starts heads up there is no cap. How many more raises would you put in here with the second nuts? We each had about 15BB behind.

If it helps, I just don't think this guy raises AQo (the only hand I'm afraid of) before the flop, and I don't think he adjusts his strategy between a 9- and 6-handed game. I also strongly doubt he slowplays an ace on the flop AND the turn. He's gotta have QQ. Would I bet a whole stack on it? I don't know, that's why I started this thread!

ATo should be defended vs. an UTG open even if it were ten handed, but especially if it’s 6 or fewer.

I’d definitely raise once more, but would only call a 4 bet. If this guy can read the board, do you really think he’s going to go nuts with queens full? His range will converge to AQ by at least the 6th bet if he’s a rational human. If he’s not a rational human and you have this super specific read on this guy, then go nuts, but that’s not really something any of us can comment on. That’s your read and this is such a specific situation, it’s not really something we can debate.