Hi, I'm a newb to both FTR and poker, pretty much (about a month), but I've been reading lots (TOP, SSH, Holdem; 2+2 forums, various poker blogs, FTR). Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much of it is sticking when I do stuff like this (sorry for no converter but these hands are from Pacific small stakes NLHE):

AKo vs. 44

I'm in MP somewhere. SB calls my PFR, flops his set of 4's. I make a pot bet on the flop (4hKhQs, or similar), he calls, it's HU. Turn completes the flush, we both check. River is a blank, he bets and I call.

Am I always paying off a set here or should I have been looking to bail after he called my pot sized bet? I actually thought he might be on a flush draw, so his check on the turn threw me. Should I have heavily bet the turn after he checked, representing the flush? In hindsight that seems like a far superior play to checking but it leaves me vulnerable to a reraise if he has a flush. The river call from me is just plain stupid, right?

AA

I'm dealt AA on the button. UTG min-raises, a few callers, I reraise to 13xbb. UTG calls and so does the deep stacked (5x buy-in) guy in MP2. My read on UTG is that he's pretty loose and that I probably have him beat. MP2 I've watched collect other peoples stacks with pretty straightforward TAG play. He's my main worry.

Flop: Ks5hKh

Well, bugger. Kx beats me and there's a flush-draw. UTG goes all-in, MP2 calls, I fold.

Easy fold, I think? The results certainly indicate it: UTG shows Kx, MP2 shows 79s(!). Which changes my view of DeepStack to pretty loose, right? I mean, calling 80% of a buy-in with that is pretty, uhm, silly, isn't it?

QQ

The very next hand I get pocket Hiltons. I don't raise as much (5xbb). 4 callers. Flop: 4s6d8s. Not great but much better than the last one. Checked around to me and I all-in (!?). Two callers, including DeepStack that won the last hand. Turn is the Ah and I think, "Damn, I've lost to a pair of aces." River: 5s, completing the spade flush. Mr. DeepStack flips 56o for the rivered two pair.

Preflop, I'm 81% favourite; flop, 65%; turn, 80%.

Was my all-in really that terrible on this board? Or is his call completely wacky?

Those three hands burned about 1.5 buy-ins altogether so any advice is greatly appreciated. Of the three, I think my play with AKo is probably the worst (-.5 buy-ins). Folding bullets was pretty standard (-.1 buy-ins). Losing QQ (-.8 buy-ins) I think is just unlucky but the fact I lost so much would indicate bad play.

Anyway, I'm glad to have joined FTR and hopefully with your advice I can become a better player (can't get that much worse ).