Scare card bet; call or raise?
 

I get into these situations a fair bit and always wonder whether I'm leaving chips on the table when I do this. Who raises this river (keeping in mind that this is a relatively easy fold to a 3 bet)?

FullTiltPoker Game #223266987: $10,000 Guarantee (1394215), Table 39 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:22:28 ET - 2005/09/18
Seat 1: xDANMONEYx (1,255)
Seat 2: b-lo30 (945)
Seat 3: Preiszless (1,955)
Seat 4: JHutch19 (2,860)
Seat 5: Carpe Carpem (1,485)
Seat 6: homie5 (1,415)
Seat 7: TruKilla (1,970)
Seat 8: Adar (1,675)
Seat 9: IGotAcesFool (1,395)
TruKilla posts the small blind of 25
Adar posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Adar [3c 9d]
IGotAcesFool folds
xDANMONEYx folds
b-lo30 folds
Preiszless folds
JHutch19 folds
Carpe Carpem folds
homie5 calls 50
TruKilla calls 25
Adar checks
*** FLOP *** [3d 5s 8s]
TruKilla checks
Adar checks
homie5 checks
*** TURN *** [3d 5s 8s] [Qc]
TruKilla checks
Adar checks
homie5 checks
*** RIVER *** [3d 5s 8s Qc] [3s]
TruKilla bets 200
Adar calls 200

Re: Scare card bet; call or raise?
 

I think as a rule, calling this river is probably best. There aren't enough enticing looking second-best hands for him to be calling a bet with. Against a donkish opponent who I think is capable of playing a Q this way and calling, I might push, but barring that I'll just call here. In almost any situation where I do bet the river here, I'm pushing, because I think the stacks are such that it's a weaker looking raise than most of the smaller raises you could make here.

Re: Scare card bet; call or raise?
 

On this specific hand, I think just calling is preferable because I don't see a hand that plays this way, is calling a raise, and that you beat. In similar situations where there are hands that satisfy this, however, I think minraising is an attractive option, when you're unlikely to get reraised by a hand that you beat.