PokerStars - $0.02 NL - Holdem - 9 players

My stack is $3.08, villain has $2.12

I open to 0.06 with 8d9d in early position (tight table). Folds round to SB who raises to 0.17, BB folds, I call.

*** FLOP *** [9d Kh Kd]
SB bets $0.28
I call.

*** TURN *** [9d Kh Kd] [5d]
SB bets $0.71

My stack is now 2.63 and his is 0.96.

My two questions are:
What should I have done given the way I had played to this point?
And did I get something wrong already in this hand?

When you're starting out there's a time and a place for suited connectors but it's not opening from early position. You want to get in and see a flop multi-way for as cheap as possible. A nice spot for them is calling a pre-flop raiser in late position as quite often then the blinds will come along too. If you don't hit your draw just fold post-flop to any further aggression.

As played. I'd probably fold to the 3bet since it's only going to be the two of you going to the flop and you're going to miss it more often than not.

Post-flop as played. Your hand is now basically a bluff-catcher. You have no draws. You're still losing to all of the overpairs that make up a large part of the villains 3bet range. Any of AK, KQ, KJ are also ahead of you (although admittedly less likely). You literally only are ahead of AQ, AJ. This is a fold.

Turn is absolutely a fold.

At 2nl there's no need to get cute and try to chase thin value or catch bluffs like this. Just wait for big hands and bet big when you've got some solid showdown potential (Top Pair, Top kicker minimum).

Sorry, I made a mistake in my original post. My hole cards were 7 and 8 of diamonds, not 8 and 9 (obviously, since the 9d came on the flop).

Post-flop I had a flush draw. On the turn I hit the flush. So why is turn a fold? I am ahead of most hands on the turn am I not? Except for higher flush, or pocket 9s, 5s or Ks. KK obviously is only one combo so is highly unlikely, and a 3-bet in the SB with 5s seemed unlikely too.

sb has an overpair or bluff. Good moves pre though in posn to see flop. I like that, but BSprout nailed it; 3bet at a tight table is strength oop.

Yeah, I put him on JJ+ or AK. Called the 3 bet cos I had position and thought there was potential value since his range was pretty obvious. Only had that had me beat on the turn was KK or AdKd, surely?

Sorry I completely missed the flush draw when i read this first (was a little bit drunk!).

So preflop is the same. The turn is now totally different. I think there's good arguments for both calling and shoving but I'd probably just get it in now. He'll probably put you on the flush but call you anyway.

On the flop you can only call if you think that villain will pay you off if you hit your outs since he's making a nice sized bet.

Yeah I shoved because he only had 0.71 behind and so I figured he would end up calling with a king or pocket aces/queens/jacks. Ended up as a bad beat and was super annoying. I seem to lose much more in bad beats than I make in lucky wins. I feel like I need to stick more to a "small ball" style, but I don't know how to do that without just playing "scared" (i.e. folding to any big bet unless I have the nuts).

There's nothing wrong with folding too much at these limits. Starting out most people call way too much and play way too many hands overall. You don't need to do that to be profitable. It's useful to remind yourself that all of your profits are going to be coming from a tiny fraction of your hands. That means that for most of the time you're going to be folding. Yeah it sucks and isn't much fun and you might feel weak but it's necessary to build up this discipline.

I think a good way to evolve as a full ring cash player is to start off just playing extremely tightly. If you continue to lose just tighten up some more. Playing a tighter range makes all subsequent decisions easier. As you become a profitable player and gain experience you'll find that your range gradually opens up as you become more comfortable in more spots.

Even against a tight 3 betting range we have pretty decent odds to call pre with a hand that isn't going to be dominated when we hit..

I get it in on the turn and expect to see AK and AA a ton

Shaun Deeb once said if you're not getting it in behind, you're not getting it in often enough (talking about tournements though).
But i think it was Pokey who said something like you don't find yourself benifiting from suck outs as a better player because you naturally aren't getting it in when you're behind as much.

So probably best to carry on as you are rather than trying a small ball game you're not comfortable with.