I've got a pretty standard TAG image, possibly a tiny bit LAGgy as I've had good hands lately and have been raising consistently with them.

I'm in Seat 2 and Villain is in Seat 4. The only recent history either of us has is actually with each other - a few hands ago I raised with AT in the HJ and he called on the button. Flop came AA6. I bet, he called. Turn was 4, we both checked (bad?). River was an 8. I bet about 1/2 pot, he raised, I called and he shows A4o for a turned boat.

On to the hand in question:

I've got $185 in MP and look down at AA. I raise to $12 (standard open for the table). Villain (who covers me) calls, all others fold.

Flop ($25): Q53
I bet $15, hoping to get called by a queen or some midrange pocket pair. Villain raises to $85.

My initial thought is "he flopped a set." But would a set really be trying to chase me out of the hand here? Seems like very few turns or rivers would scare him, wouldn't he want to string me along?

I could see AQ or KK making this move, maybe KQ. Maybe my weak flop bet inspired him to test the waters with JJ or TT?

Hand 1 seems terrible. You decide to check the turn then bet/call the river??????

Hand 2. $12 is fine, but don't do things because everybody else at the table is doing them!

Given villain showed up with a4o in last hand I'm betting bigger cause a Q is not folding and smaller pocket pairs will probably give you one street of value, so make it a bit bigger.

Now I get it in because i do think he does this with worse for value as well as sets. It si close though.

Yeah, looking back, I think i actually check/called the river as opposed to bet/call. That was my attempt at pot control with my medium strength kicker - how should I have played it?

$12 seemed to be thinning the field effectively and getting it heads up or 3 way, which is what I was looking for.

Good point.

H1 is a classic bet fold river, you're not beating anything.

H2 is never a fold, a set seems so unlikely, i like a call and check/shove all non Q turns, let him barrel off with TP. If V checks back turn bomb the river barring a Q again, if he plays sets that good he deserves it.

Bet turn and bet/fold river as played first first hand, simple, but AT is a strong hand and you're top of your range sort of, so it's not that awful.

Second hand, you are top of your range again, but I would just call because there are no draws and he can have air. Call to pot control, disguise, and to induce bluffs.

Get...it...in

Reverse Yeti Theorem ITT.

I'd shove, because flatting commits us to the pot and it gets nasty if a K or even a J show up in the turn. The pot is already big enough due to this huge raise, so get it in and let him worry about tough decisions..

I def. don't see a set here...

I think it is less likely that villain has a set here, given that he slowplayed his boat in hand 1; however, his range is super narrow on this board. There are no real draws, and no likely two pair combos. His most likely hand is a big queen, but can also have a set, pocket pair, or air some non-zero % of the time. At this point, I would take the line that allows me to get it in with his weakest holdings. That means flatting the flop, check/shoving the turn, or shoving the river if he checks back the turn.

Also, I'm not putting any more money in the pot if a queen peels off.

Shove.
Would be bizarre to make it $85 here with a set, it's an insane overbet. It's possible he could do it, but less likely than Qx.

Does villain shove anything on turn he is not calling our flop shove with?

Well, after reading all the comments, I think that a call-flop/check-shove-turn would've been the most reliable way to get the money in.

What actually happened was I shoved the flop and he snap called with AQ. So my line worked, but I'll probably see more folds in the longrun than I would with the call/check-shove approach.