I appreciate the input so far.

Quote Originally Posted by Lithium
IMHO, the first hand was played correctly, except for the initial postflop bet. The flop showed a diamond draw, and your $20 bet gave anyone on that draw good pot odds. If it was me, I would have bet at least the pot, if not shoving all-in.
My reasoning for betting $20 into the intial raiser was the following:

Since I am new to this game I figured if the old TAG had what a thought he had (a big pair), he would think I was donking into him w/ something like TPTK and come over the top, which he did.

If the other player in the hand had called the TAGs raise cold I would have pushed, but since he folded I don't know that I should push the flop. Where I second guess myself is the flop reraise. Whether to slow down after his raise and check raise the turn then value bet river. Or is the flop reraise ok just need to bet say $100 on turn and $150 on river?

In the second hand, if he DOES think you're drawing then he's not betting enough - the turn is terrifying for a big pair, and assuming he doesn't think you have a seven - and you might - your implied odds are good because he can't possibly fold to every scare card that comes on the river.
On the turn should I checkraise to rep the seven and have outs if called? If that's a good play, is it better to checkraise - push or checkraise to say $200 to appear to desire a call?