Hand #1

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (9 handed)

saw flop|saw showdown

UTG ($5.87)
UTG+1 ($24.75)
Hero ($26.65)
MP2 ($41.4)
MP3 ($24.5)
CO ($43.4)
Button ($24.5)
SB ($14)
BB ($28.1)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with , . SB posts a blind of $0.1.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1, 5 folds, BB calls $0.75, UTG+1 calls $0.75.

Flop: ($3.10) , , (3 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $3, BB calls $3, UTG+1 folds.

Turn: ($9.10) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $10, BB raises to $20, Hero calls $12.65 (All-In), BB calls $2.65.

River: ($54.40) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $54.40

Results in white below:
BB has 4s 4d (three of a kind, fours).
Hero has Kh Ah (one pair, kings).
Outcome: BB wins $54.40.

Hand #2

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (8 handed)

saw flop|saw showdown

MP1 ($24.59)
MP2 ($20.9)
CO ($24.7)
Button ($4.65)
Hero ($29.25)
BB ($38.98)
UTG ($19.2)
UTG+1 ($20)

Preflop: Hero is SB with , . Hero posts a blind of $0.1.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, MP1 calls $0.25, 3 folds, Hero (poster) raises to $0.9, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.75, MP1 folds.

Flop: ($2.50) , , (2 players)
Hero bets $2, UTG+1 calls $2.

Turn: ($6.50) (2 players)
Hero bets $5, UTG+1 raises to $10, Hero calls $5.

River: ($26.50) (2 players)
Hero bets $7, UTG+1 calls $7 (All-In).

Final Pot: $40.50

Results in white below:
UTG+1 has Jd Jh (three of a kind, jacks).
Hero has Ks Ad (one pair, aces).
Outcome: UTG+1 wins $40.50.

I'm pretty sure my mistake on both of these is on the turn, after the reraise (yeah yeah yeah, reraise=monster, I know). Should I let these hands go after that point, if I had, I would have saved myself an entire buy-in, or, should I not bet the pot on the turn, by the turn, the pot starts getting big, so betting the pot is a pretty large bet. I know both of these hands were played poorly and I should have gotten away from them on the turn, but are there other ways to play AK where I'm not putting myself in this position, or do I need to just suck it up and play better (actually, I should probably do this anyways )

Ice has said it a thousand times, and I second him on this. What do these two hands have in common? You got min-raised! As soon as you get min raised, if you dont have a set, or one bitchin' draw - fold. 9/10 times you're against a set. One of the hardest lessons to learn in NL, but such a huge money saver. In these two hands alone you would have saved about 30 bucks - one and 1/5 buyins.

Other than that, I may have backed off a little on the turn - bet about 1/2 - 2/3 of the pot, just enough to give any flush chasers incorrect odds.

Also, one thing you may want to start doing is limp raising with AK in early position. This way, you dont play it against multiple opponents in large pots, out of position. Usually, you can narrow the field to one player (the orginal raiser), who you can put of a very narrow range of hands. And if there is no raise, and you flop top pair - you will lose less when you are against a set AND will be able to take advantage of weaker K's who dont put you on AK.

Just for emphasis -

MIN RAISE = MONSTER!

D