I would have raised pf to about 10-12$.. kill those implied odds for anyone to play a smaller pp for set value..

In any case, the way u played it PF..

When opponent bets pot into you, IMO you should not be raising... your opponent is either betting a set there or a hand like AJ, or a flush draw, or OESD.. you have position on villian, theres no need to raise imo. The hand is alot easier to play on the turn/river if u dont raise IMO.

By raising, you are just hanging urself, cuz ur pot commiting urself very very fast and ur building a really big pot with just 1 pair.. Also your flop raise is only going to get called when u are behind to the set - raising that flop will get him to fold every single hand that u beat. By NOT raising and just flat calling, you essentially maximize ur value against him if he was betting a weaker hand. Not to mention the many advantages u gain from pot control by not raising - pot control is VERY VERY important, especially in situations like these.

The best way to play this hand, is to call the flop ps bet, let a card come off and re-evaluate the turn - if anything you should be looking to play a small pot with this hand, now that ur opponent took the lead. The last thing that u want to do, is to raise that flop, get called, then end up having to play this hand for your stack on the turn. If anything, you want to avoid going broke with 1 pair. Therefore, KEEP THE POT SMALL.

If the turn doesnt complete the spade flush draw, and he continues to lead out, then I call a turn bet - looking to re-evaluate the river. Also, analyzing the size of your opponents turn bet is also very important too. Usually if he leads out hard on the turn, he has a set.. if he leads weak then its usually something else, like AJ/KJ, or maybe a FD. In these cases, I usually call the turn bet and re-evaluate the river, usually folding to a river bet - Although I may call a small river bet for maybe 1/3rd the ps if he showed some turn weakness in his bet.

In these types of situations you should always try to limit the amount of money u put in postflop, because you didnt kill the implied odds for ur stack by ur small pf raise. You raised it to 4$ pf, therefore if ur opponents playing any PP lower then AA for set value, he needs to make something like $37.2 off you (4 x 9.3) just to break even. Therefore you should try ur best not to put in 37.2$ postflop on this hand because you want to limit ur loss to the possible set - if you put any more money in, then he makes $$ off you in the long run from playing his smaller PP's for set value. This usually means, calling a flop bet, calling a turn bet, and folding to a river bet.

On the flip side, after flat calling, If opponent checks to me on the turn, then I know im still ahead. Therefore, if the turn doesnt complete the flush, and he checks to me, that is when I will lead out (most likely for 12$ into a pot of 24$). Same thing on the river - If he leads out on turn, I flat call, and IF villian checks a non spade river.. I will lead out with a 1/3rd ps value bet. Also at any point if you bet the turn and river, and he initiates the check-raise, then you can obviously fold, knowing he has better then 1 pair.


In any case, I dont play AA the way you did PF. Thus I dont really get into these tough situations with my big PP's postflop.
The way I play AA pf, is to just pop it up hard. PF I would have either limped RR to kill the implied odds of my stack, or I would have just raised it very hard right off the bat (10-12$ pf raise for your current stack size). If I had raised it hard pf to 12$, and the hand still played out that way, that is when I would have no trouble raising on that flop because I kno that even if my opponent called with JJ 77 or 55 - He will still lose money to me in the long run, because the amount of money he spends calling and check-folding on a missed flop will far surpass the amount of money he can make from me when he does hit his set and ends up stacking me.