Originally Posted by handsomestan
This is only my second post on this forum, but I'm an experienced B&M NL player.
The lesson you've learned here is one that took me a while to learn.
Given that you're more a limit player, its easy to see why it happened.
Basically, when he reraised you, you had to make a decision. He has acknowledged your show of strength and believes himself to have a stronger hand. It matters little what bet you make after his reraise, he has already decided he has the stronger hand and is going to act accordingly.
After his reraise, you have to realise that to continue from here means all your chips are going in the middle. Whether you flat call pre-flop or reraise him, all your chips are going to end up in the pot eventually. From the moment he re-pops you, you have two options available - fold, or continue knowing that all your chips are going to be up for grabs.
This was a lesson I had to learn the hard way - for a long time I would call a reraise, and then either bet or check the flop and instantly be put AI by my opponent. I would make the decision to fold after having lost a lot more chips than I should have. If I'm probably going to fold to his AI on the flop, why bother calling his reraise pre-flop?
Lets look at a hypothetical. You call his initial reraise. The flop comes 9-7-3. You can make a continuation bet here, or more likely check to the aggressor. Either way, 9 times out of ten your opponent is going to bet hard or even push AI. What are you going to do then?
Without going into percentages and numbers, when he made his reraise was the time to make your decision - are you prepared to go AI with Big Slick? If not, the time to fold was after his reraise when it became apparent your whole stack was on the line.
Personally, my decision would be not to commit all chips in this situation. However, I know many players who would. My train of thought is why put your stack up for grabs on a coinflip? Why not wait until you're the favourite before putting your stack on the line?
Recognising when to get away from a hand is key in NL and a skill I'm sure you'll develop quickly - especially after a costly fold like this.
Hope this helps.