Originally Posted by Ultimate George
I'm not familiar with short-handed NL poker but I'll throw my thoughts out there anyway (and then I will move this to the short-handed section of FTR).
I may be wrong on this but you have to raise bigger here IMO. A lot of things will stay in to see a flop for $2.75, I think you need to protect your hand better than this. Maybe I'm wrong here (again, I don't play the 6-max game), but you're giving weaker hands the opportunity to draw out on you.
Next up, you didn't bet the flop. Why not? Do you think he has a queen? Well, there are two on the flop, that means there are two left in the entire deck. What are the chances he has one of the two queens left? Not good. You need to bet here like those queens helped you, like you're not afraid of them. If he calls then back off the gas a little bit. You have to represent that you have a queen OR that you still have something good anyway. He can only call if he has something...
Next, you call his $5 bet. Again, this is a raise or fold situation. That five dollar bet could mean anything. He could think his 88 is good. Or his ace high. Or his A-10. By just calling him you have gained absolutely no information about his hand (again).
Because you didn't raise the flop, and because you just called the turn, you still have no idea what his $15 bet means on the river. There's no telling what he has because you never made him define his hand.