How not to play pocket aces

I would have posted this entry last night, but Blogger was in read-only mode. That's the first time that's happened to me; they've got the site under control now.

On Wednesday night, I hit the felt after only 17 hands when I misplayed pocket aces. Here's how the hand went down:

Table 'Achates VI' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: (69600 in chips)
Seat 2: neostreet (27500 in chips)
Seat 3: (79100 in chips)
Seat 4: (18400 in chips)
Seat 5: (17100 in chips)
Seat 6: (37400 in chips)
Seat 9: (121034 in chips)
neostreet: posts small blind 100
Seat 3: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [As Ac]
Seat 4: calls 200
Seat 5: calls 200
Seat 6: raises 200 to 400
Seat 9: calls 400
Seat 1: calls 400
neostreet: raises 200 to 600
gaudi2005 joins the table at seat #8
Seat 3: calls 400
Tick-Tock89 joins the table at seat #7
Seat 4: calls 400
Seat 5: folds
Seat 6: calls 200
Seat 9: calls 200
Seat 1: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [3s Th 5d]
neostreet: bets 8000
Seat 3: folds
Seat 4: folds
Seat 6: folds
Seat 9: calls 8000
Seat 1: folds
*** TURN *** [3s Th 5d] [7c]
neostreet: bets 18900 and is all-in
Seat 9: calls 18900
*** RIVER *** [3s Th 5d 7c] [6c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
neostreet: shows [As Ac] (a pair of Aces)
Seat 9: shows [5s Td] (two pair, Tens and Fives)
Seat 9 collected 57600 from pot

The main problem with pocket aces is that they make you feel invulnerable. It's fairly common to overvalue them; I've done that my fair share of times, including this time. The main error in how I played the hand was that I treated my flop bet as a value bet instead of as a probe bet. If I'd been thinking probe bet, I certainly wouldn't have gone all in on the turn; I would have realized there was a strong probability that my caller had two pairs. Why else would he call? As always, hindsight is 20/20.

I reupped for the maximum stake at the same table, but never got anything going. When I finally won a decent sized pot of $38,600 (after going all in), I decided to call it a night.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 55 hands and saw flop:
- 6 out of 7 times while in big blind (85%)
- 5 out of 8 times while in small blind (62%)
- 29 out of 40 times in other positions (72%)
- a total of 40 out of 55 (72%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 7 (42%)
Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $-41,400
balance: $1,627,617