Riverstars .25/.50. Me and opponent have full stacks of $50.

I have and raise to $2 in LP. Two callers.

The flop is and the pot is $6.

I'm checked to. I bet $4.50 and get one caller.

The turn is the and the pot is $15,

I'm checked to and bet $4.50, which is duly called. Hmm..

The river is the and the pot is $24.

My opponent suddenly bets $9! Eh? I decide he probably hasn't got a three or a pair of twos in the hole and he might be trying to bluff me. I call.

He shows me .

So let's recap that, shall we?

He calls a $2 preflop raise out of position with garbage, then calls $4.50 off with no pair and a gutshot for the next card. He hits a monster pair of fives on the turn and still has that amazing gutshot draw. Smashing. That's gotta be worth another $4.50 - I mean, how can he lose, right?

After he won I said 'nh' because I felt like saying '$%&*#%^*#*&*#%^*' but I try to keep these things to myself.

He said 'ty'.

Why raise only $4.5 on the turn? This underbet looks like weakness. I think it's better to bet about $12 to try and take it down or just check behind to keep the pot small. The guy did play terrible though...
aquifex

I didn't check behind because my hand is vulnerable to an A or a K, and for all I knew he might have either or both. In my experience a lot of people do check-call unimproved on the flop with AK. I was hoping he had that or AT.

I bet half the pot on the turn because

* I had just been through a long period of betting the pot and not getting any callers on this table

* I had been beaten quite heavily by someone who kept checking and letting me do the betting in LP before showing me a set, so I thought it prudent to slow down

* I'd seen this guy check-raise a set and I wanted to give him an opportunity to do that so I could pick up some information.

At no point AFAIK did he have the pot odds for calling with any non-monster draw.

I feel comfortable with my play, pretty much. After the turn I was confident I was ahead; the river confused me and unfortunately I came to suspect it was a bluff.

Quite a few times recently I've thought "if I bet less than the pot it'll look like weakness, so I won't", but I've also been punished for this in some circumstances, like I said. Anyway, surely sometimes it doesn't hurt to look weak if you think your opponent has a weaker holding,

I'm definitely open to more analysis by yourself and others, though.

Probably bet the river because he knew you had an overpair, and he knew you would probably check on a board w/ a straight board on it...most people would that don't raise w/ a 3 in their hand whichis mostly everybody.

This guy should be put on the watchlist along with the woman who called my $3 bet preflop w/ 6 4 s and I had KK, she being the only caller...got her flush, and then one hand later gave that money to someone else...I love these players.

Hope he stayed around long enough to pay you off later.