Correct amount to bet with the nuts.

[rubixxcube]

I am what i would consider a novice NL player, i have played limit poker for 7 years. One of my biggest problems in NL is not knowing the correct amount to bet or raise at sometimes, the following is an example.

Playing in a live local 1/2$ 60-300 buy in game. Its not at a casino but in a game that runs 3 nights a week with pretty much the same cast of players.


My stack = $400 or so
UTG = $200 or so
MP(Middle Position Caller) over $600
UTG is very loose bad player, MP is what i would call average
I have AJ hearts in the big blind. UTG raises to $7, 2 others call and so do I. Flop comes AQ6, Q and 6 are spades. I bet $15 into a pot of roughly $30.
UTG and MP call Other guy folds.

Turn is A Spades, i have mixed feelings about this card, as i make trips but the flush is out there. I check, in hindsight i should have bet probably. Any way UTG bets $20, MP calls and so do I.

River is a beautiful A diamonds. So now i have 4 aces.

Now here is the problem, i have no clue what i should bet here as the hand has now turned into a "How much can i extract out of these guys". I decide to bet only $25 hoping to get a caller.

UTG calls and Mp raises to $75 total(a $50 raise, i cheer inside my head).

What do you do? I had no clue how much to raise here. I ran through some possibilities in my head.
First if MP is on a bluff it doesn't matter what i raise to and i figure as well that no matter what i lose UTG from the pot anyway.

I raised the same increment he raised me, making it $125 total, $25 bet + his $50 raise and my $50 raise. The other thought that went through my mind was to raise big, maybe all in to make it look like a move maybe and hope he paid me off. But i figured a small raise would be the only route to get any more money.

I made this raise as i figure him for having the Queen at best and he probably wouldn't call much more. He called my raise and showed the Queen, i showed the ace and won etc.

What would you have done differently here, especially on the river to get more money out of this pot?

Thanks,
Ruby

[kolotoure]

All In FTW

[dd323]

I push here. And fwiw this is a perfect example of the zeebo theorem (for once).

[FishSticks]

Yah - this is a very specific situation. His river raise can only mean that he has a queen, or that maybe he was being cutesy with KK the whole time - but either way he has a hand that he is going to back with his stack.

In a situation like this where you feel it is very likely your opponent is quite strong and will call a bet - you should just go all in. In fact, I think that even if you guys all had $1000 stacks in this situation there would still be a very strong case for just going all in.

[SABR42]

Jesus, just shove. Problem solved.

Also, your initial river bet is pretty pathetic.