I struggle in this situation as well. My current PT database shows me as being a loser with one pair hands. Checking the river seems so weak in these situations, if we are willing to bet the turn but not the river, isn't the turn bet just wasted? I find myself in this situation fairly often it seems, and I know a lot can depend on reads, etc., but this is a big hole for me. I don't think it is an aberration though, but I could be wrong.

At the lower limits villains are calling flops and turns with alot of draws without proper odds and when the draws miss they fold to any bet. But, you can check to them to induce a bluff. But there are definitely opportunities for three streets of value (villain and board dependent). Post a few of these hands.

A lot of times you can tell with reasonable accuracy if they were drawing so you can also check often if they missed and you know they won't call. But there are so many situations where the board is not draw heavy and you're not sure if they're calling with a weak top pair hand or they just have a pair they don't want to give up on a rag board. I just don't find them calling River bets all that often with these types of hands. It's either 2 pair or a monster being slowplayed all the way (because God do they love slowplaying till the river where they're only making money if I have an overpair).

Here's an example. Not top kicker but still good against a bad player and my only one from tonight. Nothing has really changed on the river. Except that if he had a draw he missed.

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at

Stacks:
Hero ($49.25)
UTG+1 ($24.35)
CO ($33.20)
BTN ($49.25)
SB ($22.55)
BB ($83.25)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 6 players) Hero is UTG
Hero raises to $1.75 ($47.50), 1 fold, CO calls $1.75 ($31.45), 3 folds

Flop: ($4.25, 2 players)
Hero bets $3 ($44.50), CO calls $3 ($28.45)

Turn: ($10.25, 2 players)
Hero bets $7 ($37.50), CO calls $7 ($21.45)

River: ($24.25, 2 players)

I like a check/call in this situation. It seems that he probably doesn't have an Ace here so I doubt you're getting called. I think he will occasionally bluff the river here because you checked, not often but more often than he will call a river bet with a hand you beat. My first thought was to bet something fairly small (so it looks like a blocking type bet) but I wouldn't do that unless I was prepaired to fold to a raise.

One thing I have found extremely helpful in these situations is the speed of the call. I'm sure it has been mentioned on this forum before but I think it's a great point. If he calls very quickly it is likely he has a draw, especially a flush draw. Players at this level hate to fold flush draws but almost never raise them so their isn't a decidion to make for them. Hence, the fast call is usually a draw.

They were quick calls, but not necessarily snap calls.

ON that AJ hand I think that's a great spot to bet the river. If he has AK/AQ he had you beat anyways, and I can't imagine him slowplaying two pair that far. His hand should be either the flush draw or a lower ace.

The lower ace will probably check behind a lot of the time, and the flush draw will bluff occasionally. we can assume he's not tricky enough to do anything but fold the flush draw (unless he ran of with [Qh]). He could also have xh, which will call a lot of river bets but never bluff now that he's made a pair. the same could go for a lot of the xh hands as well. They're going to call but shouldn't ever bet.

So I would be $12 on the river here. There's no reason to keep up the hard pressure given what he's representing. The draws have missed, so you're not protecting your hand any more. Not many people at 50nl are going to be making river bluff jams on you, and unless you think he's one of the very few, I wouldn't worry too much about that here. The $12 bet will get you a call from every ace, and lots of flush draws turned into one pair.

The check will induce a bluff from flush draws that haven't become a pair on this spot from some players, but certainly not all all players nor every time.