Thinking Good, Running Bad

It's hard to continually post about how good my decisions are and yet try and justify how I could possibly be running so badly. Well, here's one. I dont play loose enough or enough hands to have a brutal beat just fade into the mix. So when I determine I am way ahead on the flop and a user is willing to play for his stack, I have zero reason to try and control the pot size.

Onto other thoughts. Is there a better way?
A beginner is a player who plays his cards well.

It was said that one graduates to intermediate when "he plays his opponents cards". That is bullsh*t. Its when he (she) becomes "situationaly aware". Understanding the correct move in a diverse number of situations. Harrington's book taught an army of beginners how to be intermediate players with M and Q alone. But the better intermediate players have added a playbook of situations that they draw from. (blind vs. blind, pot control vs. pressure bets, stealing, re-stealing, punishing limpers, when to be a shove monkey, etc).

Then there is the final passage. ADDING individual player tenancies (i.e. READS) to the above two. (If you can read a player, but done understand situational awareness, stick to cash games). It's here were the pro's really shine. Understanding when their opponent absolutely has to have middle pair. Knowing that they are bullying vs. running good, and knowing the optimal defense for that player when one gets into hands with them.

I for one find this last part much harder online. Player tenancies are more erratic and time to think and analyze (and down time) is minimal. But you can make up for some of this with shear volume. And that is some of my obsession with the daily $32k.

Today's missed cash:

Full Tilt Poker Game #13258843800: $34,000 Guarantee (98098435), Table 14 - 250/500 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:27:16 ET - 2009/07/07

Seat 1: DrewGodofPoker (14,050) <= likes to FLAT any raise as he is on my direct left.
Seat 2: Call-kluka (18,082)
Seat 3: SirThomasNichum (24,136)
Seat 4: marcsnick (8,068)
Seat 5: BurmD (9,986)
Seat 6: sonicreducer420 (5,575)
Seat 7: supertonic1989 (7,845)
Seat 8: DonksRock (14,702)
Seat 9: columbo (11,246)
antes 50
Call-kluka posts the small blind of 250
SirThomasNichum posts the big blind of 500
The button is in seat #1

marcsnick folds
BurmD folds
sonicreducer420 folds
supertonic1989 folds
DonksRock folds

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [Js Qs]
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo raises to 1,250

I decide with it folded around to me in the cutoff, I would raise/steal here.
I had won (without showdowns) 3 of the last 4 hands I played, and I had folded a fair amount of hands without a bet, such that my stack of 10k was that size for a while, while the avg. jumped to nearly 14k.

DrewGodofPoker calls 1,250

again, flatting me from the button this time. No surprise. (pot is 3250)

Call-kluka folds
SirThomasNichum folds

*** FLOP *** [8h Jh 4c]
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo bets 2,500 (into 3250 or 3/4 pot)

One could make an argument for a number of silly plays here, but to me with this hand and this flop, the best strategy was a simple, standard c-bet.

DrewGodofPoker has 15 seconds left to act
DrewGodofPoker raises to 5,465

Considering his starting stack size of 14k AND the fact that this is the 3rd time he has flatted me, I can put significant weight on this being and attempt to take the pot away from me. AK is a reasonable holding for me, I have few enough chips that I would be loath to continue if I missed the board. In my favor is that the flat was unlikely coming from AA or KK, so unless he has QQ or AJ, I am looking pretty good here. But most of all, is my intense feeling that he was going to do this with any hit on the board. I can put him here on A8s or A4s here, but I am crushed if he has 88 or 44 here. Still, a read is a read... And what did I learn from Hoyazo? RAISE!

columbo raises to 9,946, and is all in
DrewGodofPoker calls 4,481 <= note that he INSTA-CALLS!
columbo shows [Js Qs]
DrewGodofPoker shows [As 8s]

He puts me on the AK and I am going to...
*** TURN *** [8h Jh 4c] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [8h Jh 4c 8c] [Kc]

go home now...

But seriously, how do I NOT get my money in on this flop with my read?