[LarsVegas]

I don't think you can be too sure. He's probably the guy more likely to 3-bet AA/KK and just call AK on the flop, others would be vice versa. And you are stuck out of position and can never be too sure, right?

By just check-calling the flop, the pot is kept smaller, and you could instead lead with a bet on a turn card like this (alternatively checkcall again and lead the river).

Given your description of preflop happenings, you have flopped a very difficult hand. You are of course a favourite over a AA/KK/AK range (though not by much), and your preflop reed seems to be slightly more weighted towards AA/KK. I just don't see why you would want to build a big pot out of position in this spot.

I have rarely been a fan of putting in chips in pots "to see where I am at" (maybe not trusting my reading ability enough (?), however), although I realize that this could probably be at it's most effective against guys like this.

But there must surely be better ways?

Generally speaking, once the last 10-15k of effective stacks goes into this pot, you are likely to be a huge underdog against the range, it's likely to be much more even chances all things put together with the first 10-12k going in, so you'd want to avoid a situation where you'd be put to a *tough* decision for those last 15k ish (I don't for instance, think check-calling 1.3k, 3k, then lead-betting 5k on the river and folding to a shove is *that* "hard").

lars