actual deeper thinking in a hand i played

there's two hands here. the first one is with the same person i play against the second hand, and is sorta important to think about the second one.

my read on this guy is he was TAG (this basically means he was folding a lot, but when he did have a hand he was raising...tight-aggressive).

pre flop, i had a sorta tough decision to call or to re-re-raise (4 bet) him with my pocket kings.

there were two reasons i called:
-enough money went in pre flop, that as long as the flop doesn't have an ace than I'll be fine going all in, and he might think i'm bluffing.
-i felt he would look at this as a decent spot to reraise me with hands like he ended up having, which he would fold if I 4 bet him pre flop. if i thought he most likely had a good hand like QQ or AK, then i woulda just went all in pre flop.


******* Hand 1 ********

Ultimate Bet
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $2./$4.
6 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: $787.40
UTG+1: $1012.30
CO: $281.60
Hero: $469.40
SB: $400
BB: $711.55


Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is Button with :ks :kh
2 folds, CO calls, Hero raises to $18, SB raises to $62, 2 folds, Hero calls.


Flop: :8s :8c :tc ($132, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $90, SB raises all-in $338, Hero calls.


Turn: :ad ($808, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $808)



River: :2c ($808, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $808)



Results:
Final pot: $808
SB shows Jh As

my plan worked perfectly, we got all in on the flop. unfortunately he hit his ace and i lost.

but the important thing here was he made a pretty big semi bluff both pre flop and then again when i bet on the flop. he probably though i had a hand like 88 or 99, and would fold when he check-raised.

....

now the hand where i make a big-time spew.

this happens around 20 minutes later, and we hadn't played any hands vs each other since then.

i haven't reraised him pre flop for the entire time we've played, and so i thought it was about time i did that.

i reraised with A8s, a hand that figures to be better pre flop, but is hard to play post flop, so my goal was to just win the pot pre flop.

unfortunately he calls me...now it gets interesting. i flopped middle pair, and there is a possible flush draw. i was worried he would push if I bet and i wouldn't be sure if i should call with just a pair of 8s.

so i check it, and he bets. i looked at it like he was just protecting a weaker hand like 99, and raised him all in. he insta-calls, and turns over the hand i LEAST suspect, Q9o for top pair.

i honestly haven't seen a TAG player play this way before, most would dump everything worse than AQ pre flop (some call with a lil worse but not Q9)...
but after thinking it over, i think he actually played well. here's why:

-he should expect an aggressive player like me to reraise eventually pre flop, and that after it being so long i'd be getting a tired of folding to him pre flop, like i was. this means, he can profitably call my reraise with weaker hands, and plan to bluff me all in on the flop, since my trashy A8 hand is very unlikely to make a very strong hand.
-in the previous reraised pot, I bet with a good hand on the flop and he shoved over it with a weak hand. SO he should expect me to bet again if i have a good hand, since i'd want him to shove over again.
in other words, why would i check-raise??? oh ya, cuz i dont have a good hand and want him to fold, duh!!!


******* Hand 2 ********

Ultimate Bet
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $2./$4.
6 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: $189.80
UTG+1: $662
CO: $281
Button: $425.70
Hero: $428.60
BB: $427.95


Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with :ac :8c
3 folds, Button raises to $14, Hero raises to $48, BB folds, Button calls.


Flop: :8s :qs :4c ($100, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $72, Hero raises all-in $380.6, Button calls all-in $377.7.
Uncalled bets: $377.7 returned to Button.


Turn: :ah ($552.6, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $861.2)



River: :tc ($552.6, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $861.2)



Results:
Final pot: $552.6
Hero shows Ac 8c
Button shows Qc 9h


THE MAIN LESSON HERE:
if an aggro tag is folding a lot in the blinds to button raisers, and then finally reraises, it's not as likely cuz they were waiting for pocker aces as they are just "taking a stand" witha more marginal hand.

this means, assuming they aren't likely to make big mid-pair type calls, that calling with some speculative hands like Q9 will be profitable, as long as you shove over a c-bet, or be willing to make a big call if they check-raise like this hand.