NH dzeanah.

I agree that you can in many circumstances put an opponent on AA, exactly, preflop (usually because they overplay it as compared to other hands they've played).

On trusting your reads, in learning anything new there is a stage where we process information consciously until, through sheer repetition, we move to the next stage where we start to do it subconsciously and it becomes a habit(learning to drive would be an example).

I think the same thing happens in poker. Play enough hands and you reach a point where your gut knows what you should do before you do - because you've already processed the information coming in subconsciously and made a decision, well ahead of your conscious mind's consideration of the problem. Those are the times where reaching for the call button gives you that sick feeling in your stomach and, surprise surprise, the sick feeling turns out to be right!

Once you've learned to make good reads, TRUST THEM. You won't always be right (nobody is infallible, and deception is an integral part of the game) but you'll be right many, many more times than you'll be wrong.

Very good post.