Sometimes you make more money if you check

I haven't been playing much online poker lately, so decided to enter a cheap bounty tournament called Shark's League.

In late position, I picked up: ♠A ♠J and raised 3 times the big blind. The big blind called. The flop was nice for me: ♣A ♥5 ♦8. BB checked and so did I. The turn was the ♠K completing a rainbow board. BB checked and I bet 777, around half the pot, he called! Now I know he has something, but an ace is not likely; so, when the river was the ♠3, I bet 777 and he called again.

If I had bet the flop, he would have folded. By checking, I got calls on two more streets. Here's a screen shot:


This hand helped me end up fifth.