I'm going to do something a little different. Most people post hands where they ask for advice. I'm going to post a hand that I feel is pretty straight forward and explain my thought process as I go through the hand. I think the river play is a particularly key concept that most ML players are aware of but may not be implementing.
This hand took place at the .25/.50 tables on Stars last night. Me and Eeegah were celebrating my semi return to poker (hence the low stakes for a celebrated 4k/8k vet like myself) and were both alternating between LAG-ness and proper play. This one was 'proper play'. I'll add some comments in italics.
PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (6 handed)
converter
Preflop: Hero is SB with T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">
1 fold</font>, MP calls, <font color="#666666">
2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#666666">
1 fold</font>, MP calls.
Amazingly standard raise. MP was LA-P. He loved to gamble it up before the flop but slowed down immeasurably after. His limp here signifies a weaker than normal hand for early position.
Flop: (5 SB) 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, MP calls.
Not the overcard you want to see in a micro-limit game, but being heads up, I felt the bet was for value. He'd let me know where I was at on the turn anyway.
Turn: (3.50 BB) 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, MP calls.
No raise. At this point I was almost certain that Villain's hand did not contain an ace unless was holding ace-little. The lack of a raise told me I'm good 9 out of 10 times.
River: (5.50 BB) A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks intending to call a bet.
In this situation, with the top card on board pairing, I don't think there's much I can do to get someone who has called down to call one more bet. Further, if he calls my bet, he probably does have me beaten. On the other side, I can check and hope to induce a bluff. With a scare card falling, my check represents that I don't have an ace (which I don't, but that's not even remotely important), and invites Villain to take a stab at the pot. The more aggressive your opponent, the better this play will work for you. In this situation, I chose a relatively passive villain, but I still felt that if I was to bet one more time and get called I would lose that bet. I felt that his betting range was much larger than his calling range with two aces on board.
What is important in this situation is not that I am good >50% of the time on the river to justify a value bet. It's important that I am good >50% of the time when I am called. This is a pretty straight forward play and it's one you should be making on a regular basis with a marginal but likely best hand.