Dan Harrington, in his fantastic series of books, "Harrington on Hold 'em," writes you should never squeeze with a hand that wants to see a flop but not a fourth bet.

I dodged that mistake, but later in the hand, I made a bigger mistake in the same family of unnecessarily putting more money in the pot. I don't get upset about how the cards fall, because I can't control variance, but I can control my decisions and must focus my efforts into always making the best decision.

It was early in a Colorado Poker Championship high-roller event. Blinds were 250-500 with a 50 ante, and action folded to the button, an amateur player with more than 50,000 in chips from a 30,000 starting stack. He raised to 1,500. My friend Jay, a solid player with a stack of more than 60,000, called out of the small blind, and it was my turn in the big blind.

I had 37,000 and held Js 10s. This was a great spot to squeeze, considering the button was the initial raiser and Jay couldn't have a premium hand. I was tempted, but if the button reraised, then my beautiful hand was going into the muck without seeing a flop. Don't squeeze when a four-bet is going to make you sick. Squeeze when you don't care about the four-bet in either direction; be happy because you have it, or don't care since you don't have anything.

I called, and three of us saw the Ks Jd 7h flop. Jay checked, I checked, and the button bet 2,500. Jay folded, and I called. No reason to raise here and turn my hand into a bluff, and my hand's too strong to fold. Let's see the turn.

It was a great one for me: the 9s. I checked with the intention of calling a bet, and then the villain bet 3,300 into a pot of about 10,000.

Why did he bet so small? Amateurs usually bet bigger with made hands in this spot to protect themselves from all the draws. Even if villain had Q-10, I would expect to face a bigger bet due to the flush draw that showed up. Though it's unlikely for me to have a flush draw, amateurs fear flush draws and being drawn out on.

So he had to have, like, one pair, right? I could make him fold one pair if I check-raised now and shoved the river. Then I wouldn't have to improve to win the pot.

I made it 10,000. The villain shoved instantly, 24,000 more to me, and I nearly threw up on my shoes.

Don't raise if being shoved on is going to make you throw up.

Instead of taking advantage of the villain's mistake of under-betting the pot, giving me great odds to draw, I decided to give him 10,000 and deny myself the opportunity to see the river. Sure, if he had just a king, it would probably work, but since I'm beating all of his bluffs that fold to the 10,000 bet, and folding to all of his huge hands that are shoving on me, I should have simply checked and called the turn. Many of his one-pair hands are checking that turn, too, skewing his range more toward hands that are monsters or bluffs.

Bad play, Devo.

Bryan Devonshire is a professional poker player from Las Vegas. Known as "Devo" on the circuit, he has amassed more than $2 million in earnings.