Interesting hand

This hand in some respects cost me more than it should have, but in other respects involved some pretty good reads, and could have been worse. Annotated for clarification:

***** Hand History for Game 2362288411 *****
$100 NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, July 14, 12:05:23 EDT 2005
Table Table 54794 (6 max) (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: sabetudo ( $96.55 )
Seat 2: cben23 ( $38.09 )
Seat 3: UncleBohh ( $291.48 )
Seat 4: whetyjo ( $24.30 )
Seat 6: pokeringit ( $83.25 )
Seat 5: stressball10 ( $100.40 )
cben23 posts small blind [$0.50].
UncleBohh posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to stressball10 [ Th Ac ]
whetyjo raises [$4].
stressball10 calls [$4]. -- I initially planned to raise AT, a standard raising hand for me in 6max. With a raise in front from a short stack who I knew to be raising more than average, I felt a call was appropriate.
pokeringit calls [$4]. -- I put this guy on something modest like KJ, AJ, or a low pocket pair.
sabetudo folds.
cben23 folds.
UncleBohh folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8h, 2c, Ad ]
whetyjo is all-In [$20.30]
stressball10 calls [$20.30]. -- Even for a short stack, that all in on the flop is highly suspicious. I initially thought maybe a weak ace like AJ, but then decided he had a middle pocket pair like tens or jacks and hated this flop. So a call again is in order. I'm now hoping the guy behind me doesn't have an ace.
pokeringit calls [$20.30]. -- oh no. Flat call, no raise? Could it be AJ?
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4c ]
stressball10 checks. -- this is basically a check for information. His next action is going to tell me something.
pokeringit bets [$10]. -- Interesting, eh? It's not a very big bet relative to the pot... but he did bet. I think AJ, A9, or a similar hand might check behind here, considering all the dead money in the pot and the fact that I pretty clearly have an ace myself. I'm starting to suspect he's value betting on a hidden set...
stressball10 calls [$10]. -- gotta call, pot odds are too good to fold this early. And I still have one more round to get information from him. The only thing I really don't want to see is like a $15 bet on the river, because I basically have to call that.
** Dealing River ** [ 5h ]
stressball10 checks.
pokeringit is all-In [$48.95] -- perfect. It would be easy to read this as a desperation bluff, but to me it confirms my worst suspicions: he has a set, probably eights.
stressball10 folds.
whetyjo shows [ Td, Ts ] a pair of tens.
pokeringit shows [ 8c, 8s ] three of a kind, eights. -- beautiful.
pokeringit wins $68.95 from side pot #1 with three of a kind, eights.
pokeringit wins $72.40 from the main pot with three of a kind, eights.

So yeah, I lost $34 that maybe could have been avoided, but I think I learned a couple things; and I saved some money on the end, where a lot of players might have just called and hoped for the best. It was nice to have basically all my reads confirmed - that alone made it worth the price for me.