Villain here is 56/5/36 over just 17 hands.

I've been losing crazy money at showdown recently, and I'd appreciate your input on how I can make bets that help me figure out whether to take the hand all the way, or convince myself to lay it down.

I'm not sure this is the best example from today's debacle, but it was reasonable.

Also of note: this was after a long string of great hands that got me nothing because any bet caused the opposition to fold up. So I may have been a little tilted toward passive because of that. My *thinking* (wrongly, it turned out), after the SB checked the flop, was that he missed, or didn't have much. Certainly not two pairs!!

When villain put a small bet on the turn, I thought, ok, maybe he paired that two or five. He's been playing some bad hands, so it wouldn't surprise me. But I didn't want to chase him off. Just wanted to see how much I could get out of him.

Finally, at river, he makes a bigger bet. I've been passive, so I figure he's trying to chase me off the pot. I come over the top at him, but he comes back at me. So I figure, ok, yay. He's a fool, and I'll take home the bacon!

I was not correct. I was the fool.

My own deconstruction: I should have made a small-to-moderate bet at the flop. But what would he have done that would have convinced me to lay down this hand?

How do you lay down an attractive hand like this?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($5.45)
UTG ($10)
Hero (MP) ($5.40)
CO ($6.25)
Button ($11.23)
SB ($4.39)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A, J
1 fold, Hero bets $0.17, 2 folds, SB calls $0.15, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.39) 2, J, A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($0.39) 5 (2 players)
SB bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20

River: ($0.79) 8 (2 players)
SB bets $0.55, Hero raises to $1.13, SB raises to $4.02 (All-In), Hero calls $2.89

Total pot: $8.83 | Rake: $0.40