Am I the only one that continually falls for this? It seems to have become the norm instead of the exception lately, at least in the games I've been playing in, and I seem to fall for it about 2/3 the time. Is it like this everywhere now?

I'll tend to check top or even middle pair hands on the river oop often when I'm pretty sure that my opponent is on a draw to try and induce a bluff, but when I have a strong hand in position on the river, I usuallly tend to bet, even when a draw completes or on a dangerous board when my opponent checks. Should I not be doing this very often?

Example from a few days ago: ($50 FR)
[7c] UTG+2 w/ $113 - UTG+1 is LAG w/ $111 - we are the 2 biggest stacks at the table

Long story short, flop [8h][8s] turn river
UTG+1 check-calls all the way to the river. I feel it's a safe bet when he checks again until he puts in a 4x c/r of my bet. I pay off his flopped boat with pocket 5's.

I'm falling for this move about once or twice per session lately, except yesterday when I checked behind when the flush card came twice and both times it was the nuts vs my set and straight.

Is it combatable? I can't just start checking every potentially unpleasant river.

I am seeing a lot of river checkraises also. I have yet to call one and have it be anything other than a very big hand. So yeah, bet and fold to the CR.

Yes, I understand the folding for the most part. This is one of the rare ones that I called because I thought there was a good chance he had a straight too, the way it was played and I was getting over 2-1.

What I'm more concerned about is betting the river and throwing away that first bet in the first place.

It happened 2 more times tonight. 1x he had a set and I checked behind, other time I had top 2 pair with AK and felt that I had to bet on a [7c][Kd][Ac][3h] board.

Your thought process is a bit off, you bet your two pair on the river with a possible straight out there because there is a good chance you will get paid off by a weaker two pair or even AQ. Based on the action in the hand, you need to put your opponent on a range of hands by the river and make your decision based on those assumptions and reads.

Look at it this way, if you hold two pair and your opponent holds a weaker two pair, you are throwing away a bet on the river by NOT betting. If your opponent doesn't have the nuts by the river, and they usually don't, then you will be missing loads of value.