The Second Big Hand

The first time I made a big laydown and was wrong.  The second time I made a big call and was wrong.  I had four people limp in the hand and I was the big blind.  I looked down at pocket 5s and raised 4x the pot.  The second or third person in the hand reraised me a significant amount (I can’t remember how much) and everyone else folded.  I didn’t put him on a monster because he had just limped in in early position.  I was thinking he thought I was trying to steal the blinds (which I kind of was but I had a legitimate hand) and that he would push me back out of the pot because I was only playing position power.  I put him on KQ and pushed all-in.  He of course splashed pocket aces.  My 5s were crushed and I lost yet another huge, pivotal pot.  I think this was a pretty foolish move on my part.  I far overplayed pocket 5s.  It was unfortunate someone limped in with pocket aces, but it was a great play on their part.  I had no idea of their strength of hand and they won a lot of money.  I was a little suprised they didn’t even raise it up 2x, but this is exactly the reason I like slow playing aces.  I know many people are afraid they’ll get cracked but I’m not really worried about that.  I don’t want to take home some blinds or a relatively small pot.  I want the huge pots.  Playing steathily gives you that opportunity.