I never min-raise a river, but...

[catfish_01]

Villian is a 36.15/22.94/2.5. I've been playing tight and things have been pretty straightforward at this table. This hand developed in a weird way...

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Hold'em Cash Game
$0.25/$0.50 Blinds
5 Players
LegoPoker HH Converter (http://www.legopoker.com/hh/)

<u>SB: $50</u>
<font color="black">BB: $14.20</font>
UTG: $34.85
CO: $71.55
<u>Hero (BTN): $55.45</u>

<font color="black">Preflop:</font> Hero is dealt T/images/graemlins/heart.gif 8/images/graemlins/heart.gif (5 Players)
2 folds, <font color="red">Hero raises to $2</font>, SB calls $1.75, BB calls $1.50

<font color="black">Flop:</font> ($6) Qhttp://legopoker.com/hh/images/diamond.gif J/images/graemlins/heart.gif 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, <font color="red">Hero bets $4</font>, SB calls $4, BB folds

<font color="black">Turn:</font> ($14) 8http://legopoker.com/hh/images/diamond.gif (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

<font color="black">River:</font> ($14) 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif (2 Players)
<font color="red">SB bets $10</font>, <font color="red">Hero raises to $20</font>, <font color="red">SB raises all-in to $44</font>, Hero calls $24

Pot Size: $102 ($3 Rake)

On the river, I thought, surely I am ahead of what this guy is betting. Especially since I showed weakness on the turn. I opted to min-raise instead of shove because, well, I never do that and it seemed like a line that would make the villian go: wtf?

Anyone think that raising this river is bad, period--or if I am going to raise, should it be for real?

[Ace0fSpades]

This hand is very awkward. Given our villain's high AF and maniac stats, it seems out of place that he is cold calling the flop and checking the turn, only to suddenly fire out and shove the river. This could be our villain getting tricky with a set of 2s, but I suppose he could be making a move here with a weaker Q or a J.

[hoyasaxa]

or a straight, but i think thats real unlikely. Im not really sure I like the raise, i think a call is fine. The hand is so weird i would almost call it a crying call.

[TedHastings]

This is pretty much WHY you don't minraise rivers, it seems like whenever I try to get tricky I end up getting screwed, that second 8 could so easily be the worst card in the deck for you I probably just call

[ocdscale]

I think you're shown T9s and 22 a lot.
Not a lot of 8x hands make sense, the fact that you have the 8/images/graemlins/heart.gif confuses things since he can't have A/images/graemlins/heart.gif8/images/graemlins/heart.gif or K/images/graemlins/heart.gif8/images/graemlins/heart.gif so don't know what 8x hand he would call the flop with. Q8 is a real stretch (preflop) J/images/graemlins/club.gif8/images/graemlins/club.gif maybe.

The question isn't whether you're ahead of what the guy is betting, the question is whether you're ahead of what the guy is calling with. If he folds all worse hands, the raise makes you no extra money. I could see him calling your min raise with AQ, QJ, AA, KK, etc, but it seems very unlikely he would play this way with those hands.

I don't like the min-raise on the river, but given that, I think you have to call with 3:1 odds.