i gotta thank you guys for what has turned into the "give chopper free advice" post. this HAS helped a lot, as i have seen most of you guys posting in here before and respect your opinions.

i think i may be, in part, starting to "turn a corner" of sorts in my play. lately, i have been getting much more aggressive, and while overall i have not been profitable over my last 14 k hands (i'm down like 4 BB/100), before that i have had a ton of success (up 5 BB's/ 100 over 40k hands at 25 and 50 and a little 100).

part of the "new" aggression is arrogance, part is trying to adjust to the fact that the "fish" seem smarter these days...since about summer (before, but worse, since US ban). they seem a little tighter pre-flop and less likely to stick it in w/o moderately solid holdings (you dont seem to double up as frequently w/ TPTK anymore). and part of the aggro influence was about 8k hands at 6max...WOW, did i get some bad habits there.

but anyway, i want to say one more thing...

lots of us seem to hit a "bad run" and blame variance frequently. lately, i've seen more of us say ..."with a little bad play"... but the fact remains, i have made some HORRID plays recently, like this one.

its off the subject of sc's, but since i have you guys' attention please let me know if this is as bad as i think it was upon review. boy did i get greedy. i just want you guys to tell me if there was ANY justification for this, as i know i was taking a HUGE gamble here.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP2 ($25)
MP3 ($44.60)
CO ($15.45)
Hero ($19.40)
SB ($13.20)
BB ($37.95)
UTG ($7.25)
UTG+1 ($48.05)
MP1 ($26.15)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, 8. MP2 posts a blind of $0.25. MP3 posts a blind of $0.35.
3 folds, MP2 (poster) checks, MP3 (poster) checks, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.25, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($1.35) 8, 6, 4 (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP2 checks, MP3 checks, Hero checks.

Turn: ($1.35) 9 (5 players)
SB checks, BB bets $1, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, Hero calls $1, SB folds.

River: ($3.35) Q (2 players)
BB bets $3, Hero raises to $8, BB raises to $36.7, Hero calls $10.15 (All-In).

Final Pot: $58.20

this is the type of stuff i used to call variance because when i run well, it holds up. but when i run NORMAL, i get killed here with this stuff, and should not make this mistake again.

was it ok to check the flop, and wait to hammer the turn? or should i have just bet the flop from the start?

thanks