A little 4-8 action at the casino

So I went to the Casino today to play some 4-8 holdem. I have to say that I like the poker area at casino AZ. It is huge with approximately 50 tables and they spread LHE, Omaha Hi, Stud and Horse and limits from 3-6 up to I think 100-200 and a 5-150 spread game. The area is not separated from the gaming floor but unless you sit on the fringes, you don't notice the smoke much. You still smell like smoke when you leave but that is expected. Also I find the play there o be above average which is good for me. I like playing with people who play good. I played last week and it was a donkey table to be honest but today everyone but 1-2 people were solid.

Alright, so back to poker. I sit down and buy-in for $100 which is all I brought. Within the first 35-40 minutes I was up to $220. Then over the next hour fell down to about $80 and hung there for a while. Then I won 3 hands in a row, the first of which was a kill pot. I was in the bb blind with 9-7 so I called the other $4. Flop came K108. I called the bet from the utg player who was all in and so did two other players. The turn was a 6. I check and player bets 16 and the other player calls and I raise. They both thought I had the flush and folded because that put the flush out there. I held on when the all in player missed her 4 card flush. So now back up to $220 and instead of leaving I stay feeling good and wanting to play the whole night. Well literally over the course of the next 2 hours I won 1 pot for $12 profit and proceeded to lose the rest of my money. I went completely card dead and when I had a hand they either didn't hold up or had a higher pair.

3 hands during my downfall.

1. bb with QQ. 4 limpers, sb raises to 8 and I reraise to 12 and the utg caps it. 1 other limper calls, 2 other fold and sb calls. Flop comes AJ8. Checks around. Turn comes an ace. I bet and it folds to the sb who reluctantly calls and the river is a blank with possible flush. He checks and I check behind and he shows KK.

2. Button with A9 of spades. BB raises to 8 and I call after limping in. Flop comes A with 2 hearts. Checks to me and I bet and bb calls and everyone else folds. Turn another heart. I bet and he calls. River another heart. I check, he bets and I fold showing my A9 face up and he shows his QQ with the heart. I say out loud, you didn't believe me and he says you were on the button, you could have been stealing. I'll leave that one alone.

3. 3 position -AQ of diamonds. UTG limps, 2nd player folds and I raise to get everyone else out. Button, both blinds and utg call. Flops comes Q109 rainbow. Checks to me, I bet and everyone folds except utg and she reraises me. I reraise and she reraises and I call. I say to her you got KJ? Turn comes a nine and she bets and I fold my AQ face up and she shows me the KJ. I knew my read was dead on but I have 2 questions to ask:

First, was raising with AQ proper? I feel with the lower limits and maybe true for higher, people will call you with anything if they have put money in already. I ask this not bashing the utg player. She was right in calling and I don't blame her. My raise was just to push out all the other players and it didn't really work when only 2 of the players left to act after me folded pre-flop. Just not sure if it is really worth raising in mid to late position unless you have AA or KK. Seems like every flop has 4-6 players in it and raises don't deter unless it is 3 bets to them and even then they call most of the time.

Second, should I have called her turn bet on the AQ vs. KJ hand? The reason I ask this is because I had 4 outs and of course the pot odds were there for me. I think folding when I was 99% sure I was beat was correct. I did the card player calculator and I was a 9-1 dog going into the river. I think my fold was correct but should I have chased to try to fill up?

All comments much appreciated.

Well, done playing live poker till next Friday.