Tricky play

This is an excellent hand that a student of mine recently played in a $10 buy-in MTT Full Tilt Poker Super Stack $14K Guarantee (197451031) - 120/240 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em Seat 1: (10,839) Seat 2: (11,175) Seat 3: (9,975) Seat 4: Hero (19,200) Seat 5: (7,075) Seat 6: (12,567) Seat 7: Villain (16,687) Seat 8: Small blind (3,565) Seat 9: Big blind (6,230) You have been at the table for a relatively short time, but already Seat 5, the Villain in Seat 7, and the Big blind in Seat 9 have all seemed to be aggressive.  You need a strong hand to enter this pot with three aggressive players behind you, especially when one of them is the BB. All players ante 25 Small blind posts 120 Big blind posts 240 The button is in seat #7 Dealt to Hero [K♣ K♠] Seat 1 folds Seat 2 folds Seat 3 folds Obviously, you are going to raise your kings in this spot, hoping to get 3-bet so you can 4-bet to dissuade people from 3-betting you lightly in future hands. Hero raises to 600 This raise is the perfect size, 2.5BBs.  Since you may be planning to steal the blinds often, you want to minimize your chip commitment so you lose fewer chips when your steal is unsuccessful.  Therefore, you must raise the same amount with your monster hands to avoid giving your opponents a read on your play. Seat 5 folds Seat 6 folds Villain calls 600 Small blind folds Big blind calls 360 *** FLOP *** [T♦ 5♣ K♦] Big blind checks Fantastic flop, as you have flopped top set.  However, you do not want to slowplay here.  You have the nuts right now, but any ace, queen, jack, nine, or diamond could make your hand second best.  There is a 32% chance of that happening on the turn alone!  You also want to start building this pot since you and the villain in Seat 7 are both deep stacked.  If you don't start to build a pot, you won't be able to get all of his chips in the middle later in the hand.  Sure, he may fold to a bet, but that is a risk worth taking for the chance to stack him.  Notice that this also camouflages your continuation bets nicely. Hero bets 700 Villain calls 700 Big blind folds *** TURN *** [T♦ 5♣ K♦] [T♣] The turn is a fabulous card!  You no longer have the nuts, but the only way you are beat is if the villain is holding the two case tens.  Furthermore, if he is holding a hand like A-T or especially K-T, you will probably stack him here, or at least win a very big pot!  I would have bet here, but our hero has something better in mind! Hero checks Villain bets 1,525 This is a brilliant play against an aggressive opponent!  The villain could easily have been floating the flop bet, thinking that it was a continuation bet, and planning to take the pot away when you check the turn.  You don't mind giving a free card here either as the worst case scenario is the the villain takes the free card, misses his draw, folds to a river bet, and you don't win any more money.  But since our villain is aggressive, he is likely to semi-bluff with his draw now that you have shown weakness!  And if he has a ten, you give him a chance to value bet.  The key to this check is that the villain's draws will no longer beat you.  Betting is correct if the turn is a blank.  Hero raises to 4,500 Exactly right!  Check-raising is the right play here, b/c the villain will likely call with a draw, ten, or king, and he might even re-raise!  If you were to only call, what would you do on the river?  A bet looks fishy after check/calling the turn and checking would be a mistake as our villain might check behind.  He has to call 2,975 to win 6,595 so you are offering slightly less than 2-to-1 pot odds, and over 7-to-1 implied odds!  If he has a draw, he is likely to call, and hopefully he hits it and pays you off. Villain folds Hero wins the pot (6,595) Looks like you caught the villain making a play at the pot, which means you won the maximum from him.  It is also possible that he was able to fold a draw or a king after your strong check-raise.  Either way, this creative play should keep observant opponents off of your back for awhile, since you have proved that you can outplay an aggressive player!