[Dov]

Your question is the main reason that the books say you need lots of playing experience.

The amount you bet should depend on what you are trying to achieve.

In this case, you say that you are trying to find out where you stand in the hand. The amount of money you need to bet to find this out will be different every time. This is b/c people play for different reasons, have differing skill levels and abilities, and different reasons for playing the hand. In order to know how much to bet, you really need to find out why your opponent played his hand in the first place. This hand reading only comes after a lot of practice.

I'm assuming that you are already putting your opponents on hand ranges. Some of the most important factors to consider are:

VPIP
Do they play position well?
Are they generally weak postflop?
Have you ever seen them c/r bluff?
Do they often show down A high type hands?

Don't forget that you want to win money, not chase everyone out of the pot. That means that you need to know what is reasonable to call yourself.

You should try to make them call unprofitably with the bottom of their range, profitably with the top, and break even about 2/3 of the way up, if you think they're drawing.

if you think that they think they have the best hand, and you know you can beat it, then bet as much as you think they will call with the intention of getting it all in the middle at some point.

if you have no idea where you stand but still have a showable hand, make a bet that makes it unprofitable for them to call with most draws ( anything less than 8 outs ), and if they do call, be prepared to fold if the draw hits, or if they show a lot of aggression later. You will sometimes fold the winner, but that's the game. Especially OOP.

You should look in the NL Forum for blocking bets too. These bets are designed to make sure you only lose a certain amount / street.

Unfortunately at limits this low, a combination of things makes it difficult to put opponents on hands. They don't know what they're doing, don't care, and are just curious. A big bet relative to the pot doesn't mean anything to these guys b/c the pot doesn't mean anything to them either.

That's why at these limits, you often won't know exactly where you stand.

Sorry for rambling. Hope something here helps.