Against better judgement, I decided to sit at the 200NL table on Stars earlier today. I noticed a particular fishtank with lots of shortstacks and figured I would sit down with 100 and try to do some damage. I normally don't sit with less than the max buy-in but this is not only above my bankroll but with 100 I still had everyone but 2 covered. Anway, I sat and folded for two orbits when this hand came up.

I'm in MP with [Jd]. UTG and UTG+2 limp. I call and so does button. SB completes and we've got a nice family pot. I have $90 left after calling the blind.

(6 players) Flop: [Td][8d] (Pot: $12)

SB leads out for $8. He is the big stack at the table and definately aggressive, but he knows when to lay his hands down. UTG+1 calls. He sat down recently and has almost $200. I raise to $30. SB folds, and UTG+1 again calls. I will refer to UTG+1 as fish from now on (although in this hand I was definately the bigger fish).

(2 players) Turn: [Td][8d][5d] (Pot: $80)

Fish checks. I check. I now have TPTK and flush draw.

(2 players) River: [Td][8d][5d][3h] (Pot: $80)

Fish puts me all-in for my last $60. I capped off a poorly played hand by making a poor river call.

In retrospect, I don't have a major objection to my flop play. It might have been a bit aggressive, but I had seen SB lead out on most flops with any flopped pair. I had been extremely tight up to that point and decided to show some aggressiveness. I put fish on a 9 or diamonds at that point and was sure he couldn't call my pot-sized raise with just a draw. I also held the , which was a key card in that he couldn't hold TP with flush draw. I was expecting him to fold to my raise and when he called, I got flustered. I don't like my turn check at all, as it presents an excellent opportunity for me to take it down with what is likely to be the best hand and with chance to improve. What I did not realize at that point is that if I checked the turn, I would be showing tremendous weakness and that he could take it down on the river, regardless of what he had. His river bet made me extremely suspicious, however, because he had no reason to bet so big with the flush after I had shown great weakness. Would he play a set so passively with massive draws out there and then suddenly decide to bet big after the draws hit? The same can be said of two pair. The 3 couldn't possibly have helped him either. I reached the conclusion that he had to have a busted draw and called him.

Well, I got lucky. He had QJo without even the . But even though I won the hand, I'm pretty sure my passive turn play killed me and in the long run this call will lose money for me. Thoughts?

I love your flop play here madgenius. Most of the time you will take it down right there, with that nice aggressive style.

The turn was badly played in my opinon. If you're certain you're gonna make an all-call like you did on the river, it's best to just move in here and have your opponent make a decison. But you knew that i'm sure

After he called your bet on the flop you worried, for good reason, that he might have a big hand. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and make that turn bet. The fact you knew he was a calling station, should have made it a lot easier for you.

If this were a good player that called you, I'd probably check and fold after the flop, barring some miracle turn and river cards. Remember to use those reads to the best of your abilty It helps to have a healthy bankroll in situations like these!