How did I do?

[Godders]

Hi all, I've only just started playing real money poker, so please try not to laugh to hard when you see this example... It's still relativley early in an online 10 seat SnG, with a $0.50+$0.10 buy in. Blinds are 30/60 with no ante's Stacks are Seat 1 - $980 Seat 2 - $2,190 Seat 3 - $2,740 Seat 4 - $1,550 Seat 5 - $1,950 Seat 6 - $2,030 Seat 8 (Me) - $1,420 Seat 9 - $2,140 We've already lost seat 7 and seat 10. Most pots until this stage were active with limpers. Very few raises around from any position and mostly with off-suit picture cards and low suited connectors from the ones that I saw. I had folded every hand until this one. Seat 3's SB and seat 4's BB. Seat 5 and Seat 6 fold. I hold As, Qs. I figure this is a fairly good hand to start with, especially at a loose table. I raise to about 6 times the big blind ($400 to be exact) to flush out the rubbish that may be tempted to limp in or call a small raise. Seat 9 and Seat 1 fold, and Seat 2 on the button calls. Flop comes 5c, Kh, 4h. Not an ideal flop for me, but one that probably missed him too (He's been active in most pots, and called some raises.) My thinking was this: His call pre-flop meant he thought his hand was strong, but wasn't a premium pair. I didn't really have him on AK either as I think he would have re-raised it pre-flop. I had him most likely on a pair, probably JJ or down to 88 (maybe even lower), but I was worried the K and the 2 hearts on the board, so I made a continuation bet of $450, about half the pot, to take the pot odds away from a drawing hand. He then re-raised to $900. This threw me somewhat - I was possibly expecting a call, but not a re-raise! I figured that I had him wrong, and eventually folded the hand (which he didn't show). 3 questions I have about this really: 1) Was my intial pre-flop bet too aggressive? 2) Should I have checked the flop rather than bet, or even made a pot-sized (or stronger) bet) 3) Should I have called his re-raise and see if my hand held up?

[billy the punter]

Re: How did I do? 1) Yes, it's a pretty big and you'll end up getting pot-committed too often with marginal hands this way. This is a prime example, a horrible situation, you have put in 33% of your stack preflop with a marginal hand and playing out of position. 3, 3.5, or 4 times the blind would be better. 2) A call of a over-raise such as yours needs to be respected, so a check wouldn't be the worst play in the world, c-bets are definitely not compulsary for me. If you had only raised 180/200 preflop, you could have made a much cheaper continuation bet and got the info cheaper. 3) Definitely not. You're beat and have little chance to improve. No one is going to bluff a small stack that has already put plenty in the pot, therefore you are beat and drawing thin. :ok