How should I have played these?

Hi all, first post here. I'm pretty new to HE, with just 4k hands so far, had a couple of irritating hands happen yesterday that I'd like to run by you.

In this hand I pretty much had the villain on either a flush draw or a pair of aces, but as I was OOP I couldn't really get much information.

Hand 1:

Texas Hold'em $0.05-$0.10 NL (real money), hand #582,559,429
Table Arusha, 13 Jul 2007 10:01 AM ET

Seat 1: Mitoe [ KD,KS ] ($10.90 in chips)
Seat 2: koopwnx ($11.25 in chips)
Seat 3: petitepat47 ($2.85 in chips)
Seat 4: The-X-Raiser ($8.85 in chips)
Seat 5: arkadiomax1 ($13.00 in chips)
Seat 6: Massaone ($8.95 in chips)
Seat 7: Kennemann ($3.55 in chips)
Seat 8: lemarchoul ($11.30 in chips)
Seat 9: Kornaro ($3.60 in chips)
Seat 10: Cyril_VTS ($4.70 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
The-X-Raiser posts blind ($0.05), arkadiomax1 posts blind ($0.10).

PRE-FLOP
Massaone folds, Kennemann folds, lemarchoul calls $0.10, Kornaro folds, Cyril_VTS folds, Mitoe bets $0.40, koopwnx calls $0.40, petitepat47 folds, The-X-Raiser calls $0.35, arkadiomax1 folds, lemarchoul calls $0.30.

FLOP [board cards 5C,3C,AD ]
The-X-Raiser checks, lemarchoul checks, Mitoe bets $1, koopwnx calls $1, The-X-Raiser folds, lemarchoul folds.

TURN [board cards 5C,3C,AD,QH ]
Mitoe bets $3, koopwnx calls $3.

RIVER [board cards 5C,3C,AD,QH,5D ]
Mitoe bets $6.50 and is all-in, koopwnx calls $6.50.

SHOWDOWN
Mitoe shows [ KD,KS ]
koopwnx shows [ 10H,AC ]
koopwnx wins $21.60.

SUMMARY
Dealer: petitepat47
Pot: $22.70, (including rake: $1.10)
Mitoe loses $10.90
koopwnx bets $10.90, collects $21.60, net $10.70

The-X-Raiser loses $0.40
arkadiomax1 loses $0.10
lemarchoul loses $0.40


This hand was pretty much a rerun of the previous one, again a board with a flush draw and a scary high card, tried to check to get info on the turn, which didn't exactly yield great results.

Hand 2:

Texas Hold'em $0.05-$0.10 NL (real money), hand #583,201,408
Table Ljubljana, 13 Jul 2007 1:34 PM ET

Seat 2: Mitoe [ QS,QC ] ($8.60 in chips)
Seat 3: Toab D. ($8.35 in chips)
Seat 4: Method One ($11.85 in chips)
Seat 5: VitanKK ($7.85 in chips)
Seat 6: uxvjkfsea11 ($1.40 in chips)
Seat 7: immerNr1 ($10.70 in chips)
Seat 8: zztop2006 ($9.90 in chips)
Seat 9: Sangerica ($11.60 in chips)
Seat 10: mankl ($23.60 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
Mitoe posts blind ($0.10).

PRE-FLOP
Toab D. folds, Method One calls $0.10, VitanKK folds, uxvjkfsea11 folds, immerNr1 calls $0.10, zztop2006 calls $0.10, Sangerica folds, mankl folds, Mitoe bets $0.30, Method One calls $0.30, immerNr1 calls $0.30, zztop2006 calls $0.30.

FLOP [board cards 3D,KS,6C ]
Mitoe bets $1, Method One bets $3, immerNr1 folds, zztop2006 calls $3, Mitoe calls $2.

TURN [board cards 3D,KS,6C,8D ]
Mitoe checks, Method One checks, zztop2006 checks.

RIVER [board cards 3D,KS,6C,8D,JC ]
Mitoe bets $5.20 and is all-in, Method One calls $5.20, zztop2006 calls $5.20.

SHOWDOWN
Mitoe shows [ QS,QC ]
Method One shows [ 7H,KH ]
zztop2006 shows [ KD,AD ]
zztop2006 wins $24.90.

SUMMARY
Dealer: mankl
Pot: $26.20, (including rake: $1.30)
Mitoe loses $8.60
Method One loses $8.60
immerNr1 loses $0.40
zztop2006 bets $8.60, collects $24.90, net $16.30


So, what I'm wondering now is, should I have played these differently and if so, what should I have done?

first hand:

raise more preflop!. I would make it atleast 0,60 , probably 0,70. I prefer playing these hands against 1 opponent and not 2. if you are against 1 opponent you can make this continuation bet of about 3/4 the pot. If you get called, check the turn and fold to heat. If you get raised on the flop, fold versus any decent player. Of course if you have reads on villain being a total maniac other rules apply :).

The river bet is probably the worst part, since he is not laying down an ace with that river . check /fold the river.

second hand again, bet alot more preflop. ISOLATE. i probably make it 1,00 here. Then make a c-bet of a decent size and hope he doesn't play back. Betting this hand on the flop with 3 other players is suicide. one of them has atleast a king, and probably more.

good luck!

As played you need to be folding these somewhere along the line as it's fairly obviouls that you are beaten and the opp isn't going to fold.

1) Check fold the turn
2) Fold to the reraise on the flop as it's non drawy especially with zztop calling behind.

As for more general pointers you need to raise more preflop, usually 3-4xBB + 1 for each limper. No so much an error in hand 1 but hand 2 you deffo need to be raising to like 0.60/0.70 to try and thin the field.

It's much easier to play big hands vs one or two opps rather than 4/5

Don't over value your big 1 pair hands, especially if there is an overcard.

Thanks for the advice. The reason I don't raise more preflop is that I've quite often ended up with no callers even with just raises of 0.50 or so, but I guess that's better than letting everyone and their dog see the flop.

PokerMuzz, You're definitely right about overvaluing big pairs, atm. according to PT 1010+ are pretty much my biggest losing starting hands, the only exception being AA. Like you both said, I obviously need to start folding them more postflop :)