Party $25 flush draw, good call or lucky river?

[rotation]

Dealt Ah Th in CO. Three limpers to me, I raise to $2. Button and UTG call, the other limpers fold. Pot is $7.75. Button has $30 UTG has $50 I have both covered.

The flop was 9h, 7h, 6s. UTG checks, I bet $4. Button folds UTG calls.

Turn is the 8c giving me the straight. UTG bets $5, I raise to $15 and he goes all-in. The only hand I am afraid of is JT and I didn't think he would see the turn on a gutshot for $4. He's been at the table for a while and he would have pushed with any straight and possibly a set so I call. The river was the Qh giving me the flush against his Js Ts. The pot was giving me 2:1 odds to call his all-in but I'm still not sure about my call.

[Zag]

You made a read, with good reasons, and it turned out to be wrong. Don't beat yourself up about it, just remember that this player gladly draws mighty thin, so you should charge him more to draw in the future. In any case, you were drawing a lot less thin than he was.

Even if you knew this player perfectly, such that you knew he might be holding JT, you still have to consider the range of hands that he might have with which he would be this way. I'll wager that he would bet 9T the same way, and you would be freerolling him with that hand. Plus, as you said, any set would play that way, as well, and you would be significantly ahead.

So, in answer to your question, it was both a good call AND a lucky river. You can't win without a little luck now and then. It is good to question your plays, even when they work out, but don't overdo it. If a blank had fallen on the river and you lost the pot, would you be questioning the call? You would probably say that it was a good call but it just didn't work out this time. It is still true, even when it does work out.