Hey guys, I've been playing $.50/$1 limit now for about a year and have been reading BTP for a couple months now. This is my first post. I've gone from being a complete fish to a profitable player and been trying to lay down more hands on the river when I know I'm beat. For some reason this hand just really got to me. Didn't have much more of a read on the opponents other than there were no really solid players.

Poker Room skin
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $0.50/$1
10 players


Pre-flop: (10 players) Hero is UTG+1 with
UTG folds, Hero calls, 2 folds, MP2 calls, MP3 folds, CO calls, Button raises, SB folds, BB calls, Hero calls, MP2 calls, CO calls.

Flop: (10.5SB, 5 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, MP2 checks, CO checks, Button bets, BB folds, Hero raises, MP2 folds, CO calls, Button calls.

Turn: (8.25BB, 3 players)
Hero bets, CO calls, Button calls.

River: (11.25BB, 3 players)
Hero checks, CO bets, Button calls, Hero folds.

Results:
CO shows [ 5D,JS ]
Button mucks cards
Final pot: 13.25BB

What was the correct move on this hand? My rationalization for laying it down was the person in there just calling the whole time threw out a bet on the river and I put the preflop raiser on AK or AQ preflop and since he called I figured he had AK. Am I being too afraid of the river? Was the correct move in this situation a check/fold, check/call, or bet/fold?

Also, I'm well aware (but I'm sure 90% of my opponents aren't) that my preflop raising is VERY predictable. I pretty much only raise on AK, AQ if I'm the first one in or any position with AA, KK, QQ, JJ. At $.50/$1, the tables are incredibly loose and it's not uncommon to have 6 people calling with anything preflop. Should I be raising on a lot more hands (for instance this hand of AJs) or stick to what I've been doing?

Have you read SSHE by Sklansky, Miller, and Malmuth? It's a must read for the game you are playing. AJs is a boarderline raising hand in EP in a tight game. With people playing J5 and others calling down with no piece of the board, I would think that the game you play in is a lot looser and that would make AJs more of a raising hand.

Tough call on the river, but I think I may have to bang my head and make the call with 13.25 BB in the pot. I expect to see one of them with a King about 90% of the time, but the beauty is that you can lose 90% of the time here and still make money.

Some may disagree with me for suggesting he make an overcall, but I'm pretty sure I have at least the button beat the majority of the time here. Why? Because any hand that he could raise that would contain a King would cause him to raise that river most of the times especially if he had AK. CO as we see at the end was just an idiot. Did you know that going in though? He may just be trying one last ditch effort to steal because you checked the scare card and Button slowed down on the turn. Don't get into the habit of overcalling often without very strong hands, but I probably would here.