Back to back sessions at 5-5 500 max buy in NL @ Star city in sydney in the last 4 days have made me aware of one (of many i'm sure) leak in my game and as a casual player (75 - 100 sessions a year) I am trying to improve my thinking about this spot. Of the two hands in question, the second hand (from last night) highlights better my faults so i will describe that in detail.

A little table background. Most stacks are in the 500 - 2000 range with many of the players appearing to have been sat for quite a while. Several are regulars although the villian is not. I have bought in for max and folded all but the blinds in the first 2 orbits, partly because of rubbish cards and partly because in my time playing there, the game is very loose and aggressive (I tend to be too nitty at times and it is something i am trying to work on - i try to use this nit-ness to open a wider range as the session progresses generally).

Now to the hand. 9 handed

UTG folds
Villian (UTG + 1) limps
Folds to CO
CO raises to 25
Button (Hero) calls 25
SB folds
BB calls
Villain calls

Flop comes AQ2

Checks around to me
Hero bets 105
Villian calls very quickly (at this point i put him on clubs and i thought he likely has the Q)
Everyone else folds

Turn comes K

Villian shoves
Hero open folds AA
Villian shows Q 2

Putting the hand on paper i can't believe i folded but at the time i thought the only hand he could have other than a made flush at this stage is AQ offsuit with the Q and i thought if he had that hand he would have raised my flop bet.

Now i think about it he probably thought he was milking my AK or similar holdings on the flop and decided to test the waters with a shove on the turn thinking anything but a flush i am going to fold (and he was right).

Is this a spot where i just have to call with the thinking that a made flush wouldn't shove like that? The more i think about it i think his line is spot on for AoQ and i think the fact it was actually the q2 is just an annoying distraction from the larger problem with my own line.

The second hand that exposed my leak was 2 nights before. I again flopped top set, in this case jacks, on a 2 to the flush flop. The pot was 320 and i led 275 into it with the jacks and got a predictable fold from all. I think i overbet to scare off the flush draws and lost value.

Put together it points out a huge problem i have playing strong hands on draw heavy boards. Is it a case of me being too negative and always assuming they have it? That's what it feels like but i have never considered myself that kind of player and with smaller holdings i think i would have played both hands differently and more profitably.

Any advice or ripping apart of my play is welcome at this point as it is likely no where near as harsh as i what i have been thinking myself.

Firstly, fold pretable, star city sucks and is a giant rake hole with incompetent dealers. second, I'd never fold top set at star city.

AA hand: i would've raised preflop (~$100), to clear the riff raff. although i understand a trapping strategy HU, that many players is just trouble for AA. but because you played the hand so slow, you can't really give up on the turn, no way he puts you on a set of aces there. if he made the nut flush, why shove? not to say some players don't do this for "strong = weak", but just seems unlikely. you played a hand in such a way that really disguises the strength of your hand, don't give up when your opponent acts strong. flush over top set, so be it, you still have a lot of outs, you're committed 1/3 your stack, and you're getting almost 3:1 to call i think.

set of jacks hand, bet like that if you've been playing LAG, and / or cbet like 90%. if you're not LAG, which you're saying you're not, then you should probably slow down and trap here.

all this being said, i have the same nitty problems (also a live player). i prefer keeping pots small preflop. i go for pot control on the turn on drawing boards. i am fairly aggressive postflop, depending on the situation. when i get a table of aggro LAGs, things usually don't fall in my favor (lost about 1k last night after getting all my chips in with AA vs 88, AK vs AQ, coolers like flush over flush, 2pair vs straight). i really prefer to slow things down and maintain control, and try to commit people's stacks over several streets rather than being 4 bet all in on the flop. i definitely don't pick off as many bluffs as i should, but i pick off enough to keep people honest. i give people credit for hands more often than not, depending on how loose they are.

Work on your bet-sizing :>