Hero

My first OP in LLSNL. Pls be gentle. Thanks in advance, esp for reading a long OP.

Hero has been playing LLSNL for ten+ years on and off, averaging about one session per week in 2015 (still a rec but volume up significantly from previous years where I concentrated on live mtts). Playing almost exclusively 2/4 and currently up 60xBI for year, running good but off an obviously small sample.

my technical game is waaaaay far away from perfect, but I read hands and ranges well live especially post-flop and will call with bottom pair correctly if it doesn't make sense, no matter the size of the pot. I make mistakes but figure it's part of poker. This hand is an example of trying to turn the tables when things hadn't been running well in a session and exploiting a very active image to this point. My question to the panel is whether it's OK or FPS.

Session History/Background/Image

I decided to take a shot at 5/5 last night expecting loose action from holiday types. table was UTG 15 straddling on and off for most of the night, which i like and encourage. my first hand was straddled + four callers, so I junk raised to 115 out of the BB, saw five quick folds and showed the bluff. next hand I get AA, squeeze large from the SB and stack a shortie (550) who flopped TPTK. decent start. action image.

then the recently stacked shortie decided to call down my 2/3 pot, 2/3 pot barrels after my EP open and then check/jammed the river all-in when his gutshot hit (i folded and he showed the straight, unable to believe I could b/f the river after committing half my stack). it was a huge pot and my river was 335/f into his 850 stack which i hated. i'd managed to get half of this back over a couple of smaller pots where I'd c-bet, then c/jammed the turn light, knowing he'd be floating light. he kept taking stabs throughout the session.

the next couple of hours were unhappy and I was feeling the step up from 2/4 to 5/5. i'd stayed active and kept a wide opening range from all positions. still managed to accumulate in many spots but also ran bad overall.

V in this hand is an older Asian guy, tighter thinking player, good at analyzing relative hand strength and ranges in multiway pots, but active enough to open 87s from EP. my history with him included a run of flopping TPTK or TPGK against his 2pr+ e.g. AQ vv 87s on Q87 flop in the first hour. then I committed the cardinal sin of letting a session get to me a little and paid off with appallingly mistimed aggression in two huge pots (i) committing myself to a pot with middle pair on the turn where i'd read V for a draw and found him with bottom two pair (then counterfeited him for an incredibly lucky chop) and (ii) bet TPTK into his ginned flop, then stacked off when I rivered an A. i'd read him for pair+fd against my TPTK when he'd in fact flopped the flush.

so after 2 hours I had an even more action image but was now showing a -500 loss even after such a good start. before the hand in question I'd reloaded, then won a couple of small pots to have an 1000 stack.

Hand

So...Hero AKo (suits irrelevant throughout hand), 8 handed.

no straddle,
UTG (600) limp,
Hero MP (1000) raises to 35

Opponents will range me significantly wider than premiums here.

V MP2 calls (2000)
gutshotguy (550) CO calls
UTG calls.

4 handed to the flop

Flop (150): Kh 7c 3s

UTG checks
Hero checks

i rarely give up an opportunity to bet bet bet TPTK for value in these spots, but gutshotguy was still in position and very likely to stab, and with air over multiple streets. with active players behind I also wanted more information before deciding how to play out the hand and thought this info would be forthcoming.

V (middle aged TAG Asian) bets 65

Now this was a little unexpected - both the opponent and the sizing. it initially seemed small in relation to the pot, but i figured it was justified on a dry flop and likely for value/protection against 3 opponents. i gave him a one pair hand.

gutshotguy folds
UTG calls 65

Hero thinks for ten seconds and c/raises to 165
V thinks for five seconds and calls
UTG folds

this is pretty much exactly what i was hoping would happen - V getting sticky with a pair because of our prior history and me isolating HU.

Turn Q completing rainbow. Hero (800) bets 225. V quickly calls.

River 9. Hero (575) jams. V tanks for 5 minutes then calls and mucks.

(Hero breaks even for session a few hands later after betting TP into obvious flush draw and c/folding the flush card river.)

Questions:

Q1: is the check on the flop and the subsequent check-raise simply too FPS, or is it better than a bet-bet-bet line given opponents and history? I'm very conscious of avoiding the temptation to get RO when things work out.

Q2: I stuck to the plan, but did I get lucky given the less than ideal Q, 9 runout?

(Q3: Is this actually ok as an OP? If this is the wrong type of question to discuss, or poorly framed as an OP, pls give any constructive feedback.)

I love the way you wrote the post it's clear that you took your time trying to make it a good read and u succeeded, most ops aren't half as good. I don't play live cash so my input is from a purely online perspective- if you check which I don't think is terrible I much prefer a call after the bet as you are trying to disguise ur hand. The thing is that a cbet might especial with ur image induce spazz from villains behind while a check on this flop is pretty suspicious. Oftentimes esp on the queen turn by the river u wk run onto better hands taking your line because you strengthen their range to a point where tptk overall is a bluff catcher

Gl in the future man