$300 live event at The Bike in Los Angeles.  10-handed with blinds at 400/800 with 100 ante.

Stack sizes:

MP2 – 40k

MP3 -31.6k

Me -29k

BB – 18k

Folds around to MP2 who limps.  MP3 min raises to 1600.  Folds around to me on the button with 98.  I call, as does the BB and MP2.

Pot – 7800.  Flop is 986.

Checks around to me and I make it 4000.  BB and MP2 fold.  MP3 check raises to 10k, leaving himself 20k behind.  After my preflop call and flop bet, I have 23.4k

At this point I am unsure of what is the best play. He was the preflop aggressor, although he only min raised with a limper in the pot already.  I have top two pair on a draw heavy board. His play reads like a set, but it's very unlikely he has 99 or 88 since I hold one of each.  I've seen this player limp a lot at the table and usually fold on the flop if he misses.  I think if he had a weak hand like T7 or 75, he would have most likely just limped behind preflop.  Other possibilities I was thinking about were combo draws like pair and flush draws, pair and straight draws, and flush and straight draws.  I dismiss overpairs (with the expection of maybe TT here) because it's such a weird line to take.

I decide that there are enough combo draws in his range that I'm ahead of to continue with the hand.  If I push all in, he is most likely calling, as he would have to call 17.4k to win 45.2k, giving him 2.6:1.  Although, I don't think he's a thinking player, and I got the impression when he check raised me that he was going all the way with his hand.  I decide to take an unusual line for this particular hand:  I call the 6k with the intention of either calling his shove or shoving myself if a blank comes on the turn, and if a T75 or club hit, re-evaluate based on his action.

The turn is 5, and MP3 insta-shoves for 20k.  He made the move so quickly that I don't even think he saw what card came (or maybe just made sure that it wasn't a club).  I tank for a while and eventually fold my hand face up.  He shows his hand as well, but I'll save that for later.

The difficult aspect of this hand for me was the stack sizes.  Because we were so shallow, the flop was the determining point for my hand.  I think I should have come to the conclusion that either I was beat and fold or I was ahead and shove.  Calling seems like the worst play since I can be bet off the best hand if a scare card comes.  In the end I took the conservative route and just wanted to see if the draw hit on the turn.