[Zag]

Hand 1: Yeti's comment is that the nuts would not overbet so extremely, but that is exactly what I see a lot of people do with their nuts on these tables. I was about to say that you should have reraised on the flop, but that would have put you almost pot committed anyway (raise would have to be to $55 or 60, or more than half oppenents' stacks), so I take it back.

I do think that a raise preflop might have been an interesting tactic. I love to raise with these hands when I am in late position and everyone has folded to me. I would say that roughly half of the raises I make in this situation are these sorts of speculative hands. Note that this means that half of them are big hands, so a truly aware player would still not have odds to charge back at me, but it also means that he can't play postflop with too much confidence, either. If they are adequately fearful, they will just fold a medium hand (like KQ or KJ) to avoid getting into it.

I guess I can't see any different way to play it that would have been better. Ever since I started telling myself that a bad fold is not as bad as a bad call, I have been winning more consistantly. This is just the sort of case where it applies -- you might be making a bad fold, but you might be making a bad call if you call, and that would be worse.

Hand 2: If he has raised in "a few" hands in only 3 orbits, then his raising requirements are a lot looser than AA-QQ. I smell AK, and you should break him. However, you really do not want to give the person behind you odds at any of the various draws that are out there. Raise right now and plan to get all in with the hand. You might lose the original bettor, especially if he only has AQ, but it is better than letting J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] call along cheaply.

You might be running headlong into QQ and doubling him up, but that is just a tough break. I don't see you getting away from a set for only 140 BBs. If you both had started with 500 BBs, you might get away from the set for around 90 BBs, but with these stacks, once you are that deep you might as well put him all in.