50 NL: weak fold on river?

[members_only]

Villain seemed semi-reasonable, but I hadn't played a lot of hands with him. He had open-limped a couple of times before this hand. A few hands previously, I had bet a raggish board on the turn in a multiway pot and then bet the river when the 4-straight came. He thought a bit and folded. Other than that we hadn't really tangled.

** Elblag [Hold 'em] (0.25|0.50 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- Villain sitting in seat 1 with $84.73
- SingForMe sitting in seat 2 with $73.95 [Dealer]
- Kisaragi sitting in seat 3 with $38.18
- Hero sitting in seat 4 with $64.32
- seXXXybabe sitting in seat 5 with $49.00

Kisaragi posted the small blind - $0.25
Hero posted the big blind - $0.50
** Dealing card to Hero: 9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif, 9 /images/graemlins/spade.gif
seXXXybabe folded
Villain called - $0.50
SingForMe folded
Kisaragi called - $0.50
Hero bet - $3.00
Villain called - $3.00
Kisaragi folded

** Dealing the flop: 7 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 5 /images/graemlins/heart.gif, 5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif
Hero bet - $4.00
Villain called - $4.00

** Dealing the turn: Jack /images/graemlins/diamond.gif
Hero bet - $10.00
Villain called - $10.00

** Dealing the river: 10 /images/graemlins/spade.gif
Hero checked
Villain bet - $17.25 (half-pot)
Hero ?

[hennnerz]

Maybe bet a little more on that flop to protect your hand. It is a good flop for your hand, so get money in while your good. I like to check the turn as played, then let him bluff river and depending on river card I generally check call.

As played though, the river fold is fine.

[members_only]

I don't really mind betting 2/3 pot on that flop as it's pretty dry.

The problem with checking the turn is that you'll often be facing two barrels (we're OOP remember) rather than just the river bluff, which puts you in a somewhat sticky situation. I bet the turn to define both our hands a bit better, and because my read from the flop was that he quite likely had a distribution similar to mine but a bit worse (higher PPs than 99 being unlikely.)