[burea1124]

4 people left in a small tournament of initially 6. I was chip leader.
(payout from 3rd place)

i was in late position with pocket 8s and a LAG from early position raised me. one other person and I called.

the flop came 8h 9d Qh and I was saying hallelujah, I have a freakin set.

When the LAG bet into me, I put him on AQ or JQ. I raised him about 3 times his bet. The person after me folded and the LAG called.

the turn came 3h and he bet into me again. A little more than the initial bet. I thought man, this guy likes his queens, I just called, hoping to get more action from him on the river.

the river came a Ad. The LAG checked to me and I value bet. Then he raised me all-in. I called without much thought. He showed a 45h flush.

What should have been my thought process?

I've often that a LAG who suddenly gets passive on the river is trapping.
Should I have just checked down the river?

[dovla]

don't know.. he tried to steal, and cought his flush on turn... that was dangerous flop, but who folds a set anyway.. on flop you were against str8 and flush draw and you had lowest set, i would be afraid of 10J on flop, it was nuts there, and it is an usual hand to limp.. with so many outs, i think the best thing was to move allin on flop to protect the hand.. if someone had you there, you still have your outs to win (pair on board would give you the boat)..

it's easy to talk after you're beaten.. i could play it that or this way.. i don't know if i would played that hand different.. sometimes you put somebody on AK or AQ and when he flops his top pair against your set he has no chances, so you try to take as much as you can from him..

sometimes you're playing against idiots, they can call you with nothing and outdraw you on turn and river - and there is nothing you can do there - there is no good or bad play against idiots..

[fubarcdn]

I would go all in after the flop and force him to decide if he wants to risk all his chips on a flush draw. You let him draw for reasonable pot odds and it cost you because you tried to milk him.

[Thinkerbell]

Unless you are familiar with an opponent's playing style, it's very hard to tell whether or not they might be laying a trap. This is one area where playing online is a disadvantage--you can't judge the other player's body language to see if you think he's laying a trap or just weak. So you just have to take a chance. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.
I think usually it takes a pretty savvy player to try to trap. I think at most of the low buy in mini tournaments, players won't try to go that route.

[burea1124]

Thanks for the replies!

I think I agree that against a dangerous board like that, going all-in would have been a good move