a very large pot

I had an unfortunate no-points finish on Monday night after Lee and I got all-in preflop and my AK of spades lost to his AQ of clubs. However, last night at the Friday night game, things went a lot differently. There was a lot in play, as is becoming usual in that game. I had started somewhat badly, and was stuck $45 when I reloaded for $45 more. With this stack, I managed to scrape back my other money, and was sitting on a stack of around $115 when the following hand occurred:

We were five-handed at the time, and the positions were as follows: Trey was under the gun, followed by Eric, then John on the button, Dale on the small blind, and myself in the big blind. Trey decided to put the $1 straddle on, and Eric, who is a straddlemonger and can't resist it, re-straddled for $2 (In a way, though, I don't mind this move since he's one off the button and could easily be buying the button this hand). I had almost everyone covered. John called from the button, and Dale called (which I don't like). I looked down at my hand, and saw exactly what I wanted to see - two red aces. Jackpot. There was no way I could just call and expect a raise from Trey or Eric, and I wasn't about to let four opponents in against me, so I decided it was a good idea to raise here (duh). At this point, the pot was $7.50. I decided to raise it to that amount, or $5.50 on top of the re-straddle. To my astonishment/wonder, Trey made it $15 total, raising me $7.50 more (slightly more than the minimum raise, he doubled the standing bet)! Everyone folded back around to me.

I had to think about whether to raise, or just call here. I clearly had the best hand right now, and the question was how to play it in order to extract the most money possible from my opponent. I wanted to get Trey psychologically committed to the pot. I had definitely seen him get involved in pots he shouldn't have been in and not seem to be able to fold out of sheer stubbornness before. Actually, a lot. But on the other hand, a few hands ago, against Eric, he was in a hand where he folded in a large pot on the river getting something like 4 to 1 pot odds (not that he's necessarily considering pot odds there). Still, he had reraised me - the tightest player at the table - after I'd raised into four opponents. Also, I'd be out of position for the whole hand, assuming it played out after the flop. If Trey knew I was aware of this, he would have to give me credit for an even stronger hand. In either case, the pot was large, and I decided to raise. The pot was $36 (after my call of the $15), and I decided that if Trey was going to call any bet, he'd probably call up to a pot-sized bet, and maybe even his whole stack. However, I still felt it was too soon to get all-in, so I overbet the pot a little, for $40 on top. He thought about it and then called. At this point, the pot was $116.

The flop came out 6 of diamonds, ace of clubs, queen of clubs. I had flopped top set of aces. Before I could act, I saw Trey reaching for his chips! I fully believed he thought it was his turn to act, and was going to bet the hand. I announced, "I check," and he went all-in! I instantly called and flipped my aces face up. He showed the ace ten!!!!!! I was shocked at how he had played this hand, and realized how thin he was drawing, saying "He needs king-jack!" The turn card was the six of clubs, making me aces full, and the river card didn't matter anymore, because no card would now give him a better hand. I counted down my checks, and I had $63.50, which had him covered. He got up, zipped up his bag, verbalized a few obscenities, and stormed off into the night.