top pair on the flop

[AliBabba]

i've been playing partypoker .5-1 games for the last two months now after learning poker over the summer.

i have a question regarding flopping top pair (excluding aces and kings) in typical loose PP tables. it seems to me that it much easier to knock out the bottom/middle pairs and over cards if i check my top pair. i don't know what happens but people get Emotionally Attached to a hand if they call a bet on the flop and they have to see it till the end. i know that this is good for me b/c i'm the favorate to win the hand over any one of them and they (bottom pairs and over cards) individually are making mathmatically wrong deisions by calling, but far too often they improve on the river and take the pot and if they all do this their decions to call become not as bad.

i guess i'm giving a free card with a hand that is not too strong to begin with (top pair) but i feel like people are hell bent on seeing the turn and all i can hope for is to keep them from seeing the river. is there a better way of knocking people out in this situation. am i expecting too much from a marginal hand.

am i playing too passive? should i make them pay the max the whole way? any advice is welcome to this novice player.

[crockpot]

naturally, you want to knock players out more the smaller your top pair is, since more overcards can hit to ruin you.

i generally try to check-raise with top pair in a decent-sized pot, and often wait until the turn to raise to do my best to make smaller pairs pay or knock them out. this really does help a lot. of course, you can't always get what you want (namely, other players betting into you). in these cases, you just have to bet and take your lumps. on the plus side, you not only get in money with the best hand, but if you show strength and are raised it is much easier to get away from your hand when it is no good.