How about this hand? My most recent debacle:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?776622

If I could maintain my composure during the heat of the battle I could have saved myself $7.65. Now, $7.65 is nothing compared to the size of the pot, but hey, it's still money. And it's not only about the amount, it's also about the process, how things happened.

First let me go over the reasons why I chased the gutshot:
1) It was an obscure draw, and no one will give me credit for hitting it.
2) It was a nut draw on a rainbow board.
3) It's a raised pot. Stacks were deep (over 100 BBs), compared to the amount that I have to call, i.e. implied odds were there.
4) PF raiser was a loose caller. He might pay me off as well.

So I hit my miracle gutshot on the turn, I had the nuts, great! $$$$$$?. Bittensnake was a reasonable player -- certainly not out of line. A preflop-raise-coldcaller going apeshit postflop usually means a big hand i.e. set. If his $4 bet didn't scream set, his reraise certainly did.

My initial raise was probably too big. A set will certainly not fold on this benign-looking board no matter what I do, and any weaker hand prolly won't call that raise.

So Bittensnake came over the top for a substantial amount, but not all-in. Now it was a mistake for me to push. The board was still quite dry. Does he put me on 54? Certainly not. Will he fold his set for $7.65 if a 4 or 5 arrives on the river? Probably not, so why not slow down, see the river card, make sure I'm winning 100% before committing?

So in conclusion, if I made a smaller raise on the turn and just called his 3-bet, I could save myself possibly >$10 -- that's almost half a buy-in -- if he boated up, while I could still destack him if my hand held up on river.