I just read the post about KK in the small blind where KK finishes as the overpair to the board and you must call an allin on the river when the board was Q97 rainbow followed by a 2 and a 9.

Question, how would you have played it if instead of KK you had AQ and you got the two smooth calls (lets say two smooth calls of pot sized bets). Would you have checked the river? If you do check, are you folding?

I am running into this alot lately.

A lot of times I will bet my TPTK on the flop and turn and then check a river and decide what to do there. It depends on how many draws were on that board and if I think my opponents were drawing to them. On the river though I don't like calling all in bets with TPTK after having 2 people call me to the river. Most times one of them can beat top pair. Overpair is obviously a bit stronger. But like I said it depends a bit on how draw heavy the board was. IMO being able to get away from overpairs and TPTK is a key skill in NL and you need to be able to do it with no regrets when the situation tells you to.

I agree with the letting go part. However, at the level I'm at now, when people smell weakness on the river, they pounce (regardless of draws or anything). Very tricky.

Thanks

Some key things in that KK hand:

1. Only two opponents saw the flop
2. Only one opponent saw the turn
3. The opponent played like a draw (or monster)
4. The all-in bet on the river was 1/3 the pot

I rarely bet the river with TPTK. If there was a draw that didn't get there, you are better off checking since he won't call but might bluff. If there was no draw he can either beat you or he will check behind. Yeah you give up value when you're up against a calling station with mid-pair or TP with a worse kicker, but in most situations you're not going to get called by a worse hand and I think you make up for that slight loss by inducing river bluffs.

My tactic with top pair good kicker or overpair, is keep value betting until I'm told my hand is no good. Unless I know someone to be so rocked up and passive that if they are calling I'm beat, I don't see any reason to slow down now although my value bet may only be 1/4 pot on the river. If they come over the top I can make a reasonable choice between pot odds and my read, but most people get busy at the turn with a set and position. If I know them to be bluffy, I like check call any bet best on the river, but in general I don't see a reason to potentially give up a free showdown.