I need help with Turn/River Betting

[HappyBenny]

I'm having some problems in low limit games with betting on the turn and river. I'm a almost tight aggressive player (ie, I play about 30% of hands on average - mainly because I can get in cheap on the SB and BB in low limit). The problem I'm coming up against is that I'm aggressive in betting and am getting nailed on the turn/river betting.

Let me give an examples of where I'm getting dinged.

I'm on .25/.50 tables with $25. I'm dealt KK. I bet 2.50. I get called by someone who's very loose and fairly aggressive. Flop is 10 9 4. So I bet the pot at $6, and get called. Turn comes a Q. Now I'm rooked. Calling all my bets he could have a monster and is slow playing me. By betting aggressive the pot is now $18 and I'm already down 8.50. Then again, if I show weakness here by checking, he knows he can take the pot down with a large hand. How do I bet here?

Basically, here's the let down. If I have something good I bet strong after the flop. I have have something strong like high pair or an overpair, or a middle pair with straight/flush draw. But I'm running into two problems:

1) I'm facing people who aren't great players, and maybe calling with crap. But honestly, a high pair isn't super powerful, and a lot of times if I continue strong i get dinged with two pair / sets.
2) If I don't bet strong at the turn people are riding the river and if they nail what they are looking for are putting me in a situation where I have to fold or worse, call to a slightly smaller than pot bet with the high pair or overpair.

Lets put it into context

Preflop: 4x BB bet with something really good get called. Pot is now 9xBB.
Flop: To be strong with a pot sized bet, you're looking at 9x BB bet - pot is now 22x BB bet if someone calls.
Turn: really hard to bet strong here with a high pair or overpair, so usually I just call or bet something small to make someone at least pay something to see the next card.
River: I'm getting nailed by people who are trying to take down the pots with nothing and betting 22x BB bet (or pot), or sometimes more. So I end up having to make a nice sized bet (if it looks weak I'm going to get in a situation where someone goes over the top). So a lot of times I bet half the pot or 11x BB. After all I do have high pair.

To finish this example, the guy had pocket twos and nails the two on the river and I called a 1/2 pot sized bet to see them, which at that point in time put me down $17.

What's worse though is that I'm getting read when I play. If I bet aggressive people put me on a good hand, but they realize that if I don't big on the turn I don't have the monster hand and they can bluff me out. But if I do bet big on the turn I'm getting owned by people with triples or two pair.

What's wrong with my game here. It's getting to the point where I think my game is flawed and that I should start slow playing high pairs and overpairs and hope I get something on the turn or river to get the nuts and finish off these people. But that's giving EV to the opponents for whatever crap they can pull out too, when I have what probably is the best hand.

[rdale]

I think you need to follow a formula on your betting for a bit until you get more comfortable and are able to mix it up. I suggest something like this on your big pairs:
preflop
4x big blind raise as first to open, with limpers increase it to 5x or more depending on the texture of the game and number of limpers

flop
If you feel that your overpair is likely to be the best hand bet half pot at non-coordinated boards, and full pot at double suited and or connecting boards

turn
half pot on rainbow uncoordinated boards, 3/4 pot on coordinated boards that only have one opponent and full pot with two or more opponents that are still drawing

river
The value bet is where you will notice a lot of your hold'em profit comes from and 1/3 of the pot is often a clean value bet. Pay attention to your opponents and figure out what the best value bet for each of them is likely to be by the way they play against others. This is the second most important thing to be observing when not in a hand, it will give you a clue as to what they will call when in a hand with you.

If you notice following this "structure" still allows you to vary your bets, but you are doing so based on indidual conditions based on number of opponents and how threatening board is to your overpair. It is also allowing you to milk as much as you can out of your good hands. You aren't going to be showing weakness on the turn setting youself up to either have to make a monster call or be bluffed out of a hand. It is another reason to not play party, because this method will get you pot commited with their short stacks quick. If the amount of the bets bother you, then you might want to move down to a smaller game where you feel comfortable making these kinds of bets until you have the funding to apply similiar bets in the bigger games.

Peace,
R.Dale