Word to the wise: do not drink and play poker. I repeat: Do not drink and play poker. Just don't do it.
To illustrate my point, let's look at a hand where I lost some money betting like a stupid donkey.
Let's look at how the hand started:
The button folded, turning this into a heads-up situation.
I put in a small pre-flop raise for 2BB w/ a small pair. Villain calls, and we see the flop:
I like this flop because I'm holding the over pair in my hand.
I do NOT like this flop because there's a chance V flopped a straight against my over pair.
There's also a chance V could have flopped a set.
At this point I have V ranged for something like AK, AQ, AJ OR irrelevant connectors like 89, 78. I read V as a tight player. I make a weak bet, but V goes hard:
This was my first clue, but I missed it because I had been drinking. Alternately, you could say I missed it because I was stupid. I put in 2BB again w/ my over pair, V pushed it to 4.5BB. I called.
When I made my weak bet, I all but telegraphed the fact that I was holding an under pair but not the set. I could have repped the set (or even my own bloody hand, or a hand like J6 w/ the over pair) by making a bigger bet, but I was stupid.
Making a bigger bet here actually made sense, and repping the set would have payed off later. I was in it to win it, but I wasn't acting like it. V read me like an open book.
Look at 4th now:
I limped in with a small bet; V went big:
This was a good chance to rep 44, 55, 66 (again) or J6. If I would have bet bigger earlier, V would have put me on the set. I still had a chance to go big here repping J6, but I did not. Because stupid. I called V's big bet... again. Derp.
Here's the river, where it get's really interesting:
This was the perfect time to bet and bet big. I could have had V put me on 66, 55, 44 earlier, but my weak bet wasn't ever going to send that message.
HOWEVER, he may have put me on J6 w/ my weak bet earlier. When the river came w/ a 6, my J6 would have made a full house. Now was the time to bet and bet big. Unfortunately, I missed everything. I was playing on pure stupid at this point. V bet like he had a straight the whole time. A full house would have beat it, and repping that full house would have been a simple matter of betting. I missed the boat! And I lost hard for it. BOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
V won the hand and took my chips. BAHHH!!!
LOL. Poker is fun.