Okay sorry I haven't posted results sooner. Been busy with life.
Here are the results...
AP Hero calls, and villain shows AA
This has been a very interesting discussion. I kinda did give away the results a bit, by naming Villain from the start. Will note for next time I do one of these PAHWM threads.
Also some of my hand description was a bit inconsistent over multiple posts. This is due to time, and me forgetting some of the details. I can't remember wether there were 4 callers of villain PF raise, or 5. Also don't remember the suits of the cards.
Neither of those points really matter too much in the grand scheme of things imho. The flop was a rainbow, so there was no way for Villain to c-bet with a flush draw.
I've thought a lot about this hand, as it was a new situation for me, and obviously I wanted to have it analysed. Playing a hand like AQo against a 200bb+ stack OOP is not easy, as the debate on this thread has shown.
I still think calling PF with this hand was the best option. Its a small price to see a multi-way flop, with a hand that we can happily muck if we miss.
3! could be good, but in my experience a squeeze play like this is best when you have a better read on the initial raiser. At the time the hand was played I didn't have a strong read on his UTG opening range. From memory, I don't think he raised UTG once, but we had only been playing for about an hour. The casino has a royal flush jackpot, and I have observed that this does cause players to raise in EP with Suited broadway cards, like QJs. But sometimes they also limp with them. No idea if this guy would do the same.
So because of the read I think its okay to assume a conservative opening range from Villain and play accordingly. A squeeze won't fold enough of his range and when we do get called, his range will crush mine, and I will be OOP in a big pot. Imagine if I 3! bet this PF and he decides to get tricky with AA and just call. I would be stacked on this board guaranteed. At least I had a chance to fold on the river here.
Its a tough spot to fold on the flop, since its one of the best for our hand. Its even tougher on the turn, as we are blocking all the really good hands he can have. But then again, what else would he be betting each street with? AQ seems like the weakest hand he could have. I don't think he would bet the flop with AK, although I was putting him on that, as the hand was happening.
The key mistake I made was on the river. That was the opportunity for me to get away from it, as I don't think this guy was capable of a huge bluff in this spot. As one of the other posters mentioned, this is where you use your live read, and make a laydown. I called too quickly, and should have taken more time on this decision.