Poker hand... (in Off-topic)

Ok I ran into this hand tonight playing a 2-200 spread game. Fairly early on, the table started when I got there, and was mostly full of people I've never seen before.

I'm sitting one behind the button with AQ suited. and 4 people limp 2 dollars to me. I make a standard raise to 10. Button calls, big blind calls, and two middle players call one player folds.

Pre-flop pot: 54
5 to the flop

Flop: A22 rainbow.

It's checked around to me and I bet $25
The button raises to $50 everyone folds back to me.

So I'm stuck with a decision to call 25 more into a pot of 129, or 5-1 on my money.

My only information on this player is that he seemed to play alright, hes definitely capable of raising with air in position. He 2ed bet preflop a few hands prior with AK, so I don't put him on AK, and I don't see him calling with A2, although it's possible... but most good players would slow play a flopped boat to try to maximize potential earnings, and by raising right after me and scaring the other people out of the pot, it wouldn't make sense... So I think if he had AK he would have raised me preflop in position, and if he flopped a boat he would have just called to entice action from the other two players...

*sigh*

That was my thinking, I took my time here as it's not too often I'm in such a situation as I don't really play AQ too much. BUT I was short stacked going into the hand (somehow I managed to only bring 140 to the casino :S) and took a hit in a previous hand where I limped in with KQ and flopped top pair against pocket aces) ... anyways...

So if I call his raise of 25, I've only got 40 left as I started the hand with 100... So I'm pretty much pot committed... So I push for my remaining 40, which he calls and flips over (to my agony) AK...

It's easy to say in hindsight "Oh that's an easy laydown" but this was a weird hand to me because I really thought it through as I stated above. I'm not sure if I just got unlucky or if I played it wrong. I don't know.

Thoughts?

Well, in my experience with poker... since you didn't know the people on the table when you started, his $25 raise would have driven me away. Even with AQ. You're new there, people don't know what to expect from you so they tend to play safe. If someone really has something, they'll have the guts to take you on. With this hand, indeed AK or even American Airlines (that's what me and my friends call a pocket pair of aces) would have been a very real possibility for him to have. Any less, he wouldn't have raised.

I'd have folded. But, I have to say, I go slow in the beginning of a game, I fold a lot just to be able to see how the other people are playing.

True, I tend to start off tables a little differently. I've been playing medium to high stakes for about 3 years and I find that I like to play a more loose aggressive style early, or at least develop that kind of table image... then when everyone is starting to get comfortable I switch gears to tight aggressive and get paid off huge.

Yeah I think I made one of the rare just flat out mistakes *sigh* I just really didn't put him on AK, Maybe AQ or AK maybe a high pocket pair, but I 100% think he would have came over the top of me preflop with aces.

I meant AQ or AJ*

Typical a reraise pre flop indicates either KK, AA or AK.

Very very few people will reraise pre flop with anything less.

Other than in a tournament with a short stack with a lower pocket pair.

However, I have seen very aggressive players push hard with AQ or even AJ. I would have likely done the very same thing as you in retrospect.