Stack-Losing Gambles

I'm not sure if I'm the only one seeing plays like these, but it seems that there are people playing the NL ring games with a bit more gamble in them. Each of these plays has made it tougher for me to read their hands (a good thing from their perspective) but also made their hands vunerable (a bad thing from their perspective).

Hand 1:

I limp with JTo in LP along with 2 EP limpers. This is a 6-handed table. Four players see a TT8 flop and I consider my hand is good at this point. It's checked all around and the turn brings an A. I consider this a good card for me as it should induce some betting into my hand. EP1 bets $3, EP2 folds, MP calls as do I. The river is a 2 which seems innocuous enough and EP1 bets $5. EP2 bets $20. I'm thinking that EP2 is overplaying his Ax and I push. Both call. Both.

EP1 has pocket 2's for a rivered full house. Not necessarily too surprising. EP2 has POCKET ACES!!! Very odd indeed. He "gambled" with a pre-flop limp and was suddenly dominated by any T. I don't consider that play the most optimal, but the deception coupled with his 2-outer on the turn yielded him a monster pot.

I concede that my push on the river was less than ideal as well since another T could have easily been out there and either outkicked me or paired up to the board. But my point is that the gamble in limping with Aces on a short-handed table is not necessarily a good play in the long-term.

Hand 2:

I have pocket J's in the SB. MP1 pre-flop raises to 6xBB. Six times the big blind is a relatively large pre-flop raise based on the table's play thus far. Based on my experience, this bet is very indicative of a middle pair. I call, as does the big blind.

The flop is all under-cards, T45. If my hunch is correct (7's, 8's or 9's), my hand is good. I check, BB checks, and raiser bets $10 into a $21-pot. I check-raise to $30 and the BB folds, MP1 calls. The turn is a Q and based on my read, doesn't help. With $81 in the pot and less than than in my stack, I push. He calls. River is irrelevant and the pre-flop raiser shows down pocket K's for a nice win.

Two odd bets, IMHO, and both cost me my stack for mis-reading them. I'm open to any criticisms here, but I still feel that the limp with Aces was asking for trouble, and the overbet pre-flop raise with K's was too aggressive. Limping with Aces is a recipe for getting them cracked. A 6xBB raise with K's is a recipe for winning the blinds. Neither happened this time, because I misread the hands.

Was it gambling on their part? Bad poker on mine? A combination of the two?