25 NL. I raised to 1.00 UTG with 99, suits unimportant. Folded around to the BB, who re-raised to 1.75. This player was tight and somewhat passive so I immediately put him on AK or JJ+. I called and figured a set would be highly desirable.

The flop was Q9x rainbow. Gorgeous. The pot was around $4 and he led for $2. I don't frequently slowplay sets, but sometimes in position against a tighter player I will. So here I smooth-called.

The turn was an ace. Now he led... for $1? On a $8 pot? Suspicious as hell, right? I stopped to think about it. My planned line had been smooth call flop, raise on the turn, raise or value bet the river - the traditional "I have a set" line for 25 NL, in other words. Now I wasn't sure I wanted to raise. This bet seemed to scream one of two things: "I have a monster," or "I hate this board and want a cheap showdown." Considering he 1/2 potted the flop it seemed like the ace must have helped him, if he had a monster. If that was the case I could only make him for AA or *maybe* AQ. If it was a blocking bet, I put him on KK or JJ. Clearly I was way ahead of both of those and any raise here would get a fold, but he might bet again on the river or call a modest bet if I just called here. I was way behind AA so a cheap showdown would be great if I really thought he had that. If by some outside chance he had AQ though, I should raise to maximize value. The only thing I couldn't figure was if he would make that stupid re-min-raise pre-flop, OOP, with AQ.

This all was a lot to think about on Party's too-quick timers so I ended up just calling.

The river was a horrible ace for a final board of Q9xAA. He led for $5 (pot was $10), and I just called for the third time on a hand where I flopped middle set. And to be honest, I considered a fold (although not for too long). By that point I thought it was 75% likely that he had AQ or AA.

Horribly botched? I know there's a lot of non-standard stuff in here, but I thought his line was giving a lot of information away. What I'm not sure about is if I acted correctly given the information.