Push or be weak?

[twosevenoffsuit]

There is one part of my game I have no figured out the best thing to do, and just either wanted some advice or a direction to go read some articles on this site.

It seems that I play too slowly and allow other players to catch crap cards on the turn and river when they shouldn't have stayed in the hand at all. Quick example (sorry, I don't have that program that allows you to put together poker hands with the symbols and everything)

$25 NL table

I was dealt A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and 3 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

I'm probably inexperienced enough that I enjoy playing stuff like this because I see flushes on Party Poker about 70% of the time, so I figure it's worth the shot

Flop comes A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

So I figure, I've got a good chance at this pot, and shouldn't push too hard so I can get some money out of it.

Another player bets the min bet, I min-raise, he calls

turn is 8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

I decide to push harder here, and bet $2, he calls

river is 4 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

So I figure I was in pretty good shape, and probably had the other guy on 2 pair, so I push, he raises, and eventually I'm all in for $10.

he turns over pair of 8's, so he has the full house.

Should I have pushed a lot harder right after the flop, to get him to fold those 8's? It would seem when you do that then every time you have a strong hand everyone will fold and you'll only end up winning about $.30, because at the tables I'm playing at currently most people will fold right away if they don't have a really good hand in their minds.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[yvesaint]

1. Calling with A3s pre-flop because flushes hit '70% of the time at Party Poker'
2. Mini-raising a AA2 2-suit flop with A3 while getting your forehead tattooed to say 'I have an Ace'
3. 3-betting a river raise with A3 on a AA842 board where every other possible Ace combination has you beat

I think I got everything.