Re: Playing Trips Passively
The thing about the flop check is that it looks like a really obvious position bet, so you get action from tons of PPs. Your check also makes it slightly harder to stack AJ, AT and the occasional Ax, although you probably still stack them.
IMHO, the big problem with checking that flop is that it makes your life difficult on the turn if somebody bets (which happens like 2/3 of the time). If you raise, you've played your hand the way people expect you to play trips, so you lose a lot of action. If you call (as you did), you forgot to put lots of chips in the pot. Obviously, you're going to be betting or raising this river, but again, raising looks a lot like trips.
This line would make more sense with AT, because then you're probably behind the majority of Ax holdings UTG could have. Since almost all UTG raisers are opening AJ, and tons of them open AT, and some open A2... you're looking to get your money, as there's no way any of these hands are folding if you bet/raise at every opportunity. By checking, you let A2-AT slow down and a whole range of PPs fold.
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