Excuse the melodramatic title I hoped it would gather some interest.
Here's enough details on the hand to illustrate my point:
$0.5/$1 NLHE 10 seater
- Bongo sitting UTG+1 with $96.83
- Foe sitting CO with $68.12
** Dealing card to Bongo

Bongo called - $1.00
X called - $1.00
Foe raised - $4.00
Bongo called - $4.00
X Passed
** Dealing the flop:

Bongo checked
Foe bet - $2.00
Bongo called - $2.00
** Dealing the turn:

Bongo checked
Foe bet - $12.00
Bongooo raised - $60.00
3drawmcgraw went all-in - $50.12
Bongooo called - $62.12
** Dealing the river:

Foe shows:

Bongooo mucks:

Foe wins $135.74 from the main pot
Now I'd playing a pretty experimental game and was having a lot of fun and mixing it up, taking down pots with unlikely holdings and having fun in the chat box. My chip stack had been up and down a bit but as I had yet to have any form of big hand I wasn't concerned - I knew I just had to find one and I should be able to get paid nicely! I limped and called the raise preflop to try and keep up the image i had created but obviously hoping to hit a big hand. On the flop he bets very small, which is suspicious, but with a decent draw to the nuts I gladly call.
I hit on the turn and now have the nuts. I check to him and he bets big. I am absolutely certain he has 3 Queens and put in the big raise as i am sure, i'm rubbing my hands with glee thinking i'm going to win a big pot!
Then the river comes and outdraws me and ships the pot to him.
So I was thinking could I have played the hand differently? what if I just call the turn?
If the board pairs I can get away from the hand and lose a lot less. Surely that is a good point.
I can see downsides - if my read is wrong I could be making a mistake and the river may scare him off.
As he has 3 queens he will usually be happy to put his chips in the pot on the river too so I cab still get paid (as opposed to a flush draw where the only chips being put in would be on a bluff).
Cards that could scare him:
A 3rd spade appearing - he might think i have a flush and so be wary of playing a big pot. 11/44 cards - 25% of the time.
Straightening cards may also scare him and there are lots of these?
Do you think there is any merit to calling and making the move on the river?
Would this be different if the board was a rainbow (or the flop was, as runner runner flush is less scary!)?
How certain of your read would you have to be to play this way?
Am I just trying to over analyse things?