2/4 AJ getting donked on river

[Pominos]

Villain in this hand is 40, 2, 2.0 over 50 hands

Poker Room skin
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $2/$4
9 players
Converter

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is MP3 with :A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] :J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 folds, <font color="#cc3333">Hero raises</font>, 4 folds, UTG calls, MP1 calls.

Flop: K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (7.5SB, 3 players)
UTG checks, MP1 checks, <font color="#cc3333">Hero bets</font>, UTG calls, MP1 folds.

Turn: 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (4.75BB, 2 players)
UTG checks, <font color="#cc3333">Hero bets</font>, UTG calls.

River: 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (6.75BB, 2 players)
<font color="#cc3333">UTG bets</font>, <font color="#cc3333">Hero raises</font>

I'm currently trying to increase my river agression, and when villain donks this river I think it looks a little too fishy to be taken seriously. So I value raise...
Good? Bad? Standard? Stupid?

[Nick C]

Sometimes players will bet a hand on the river they planned to call with anyway (such as, here, A4o or even 88) and then pay off a raise. So that's the case for raising.

Still, I would probably just call. But if you're better at raise-folding than I am, then a raise won't potentially be as expensive for you as it might be for me. (I would probably fold to a 3-bet, but if, say, I'd been running badly, doubts might overcome me. Which is a big part of the reason I wouldn't put myself in that situation.)

In any case, I'm not at all sure you're ahead the majority of the time when you get donked into here (or that your raise will get paid off more often than you'll get called by a better hand or 3-bet), so, frustrating though the river donkbet is, I think I prefer a call over a raise.

[Brom]

I think it's a pretty good raise. There's no way you're folding out a hand better than yours, so it has to be for value, and I think there is plenty to be had here.

His play is consistent with a weak Ace hand. He is also probably loose/bad enough to pay off that raise with any random Ace, and there are a lot that you beat.