wrapping my head around bet/folding rivers

[dark_horse]

even if i feel that bet/folding a river is correct, it certainly messes with me later on, even days after the hand. i'm talking about a 10/20 hand i played at borgata last week at a somewhat tilty, shorthanded table at about 6am. i was at war with a LAG to my right, an unknown older foreign man to my left who didn't enter many pots and let us youngsters do most of the battling, and a couple of other players in the middle. i'm not sure what my table image was. probably a bit LAGgy even though i (think i) had my head screwed on straight for most of the hands.

i'm in BB, and old man to my left raises UTG. we're 5 handed. folded to me, and i've got a baby ace. i call and the flop comes an ace. the board was quite dry through to the river, so i decided a c/c, c/c, b/f line. i did exactly that, and when i bet the river and he raised, i went with my plan and diligently folded. i have no idea if it was the right move.

are there any good articles or posts written on bet/folding on the end? i understand why it's done, but when you're raised it's so friggin tough to deal with.

[JrJordan]

FWIW, online at 10/20 I find the game usually aggressive enough that c/c or bet/call on the river are both better choices for the WA/WB situation with a small A. This line is pretty well known and I often see it exploited for the same reason you just gave. Against the right opponents though it can still be a great move.

Relax baby, you made a read and went with it. He's not bluffing very often, and when he is, the ratio of times he does it means you're losing on average less than a single BB.

[dark_horse]

thanks. anyway this was a live 10/20, which i believe has a way different texture than your average party 10/20. i am not at a level yet where i'm playing 10/20 online.

sometimes i wonder if it's worth the mental anguish to maximize your winrate in spots like this, when you could just c/c and lose a valuebet here and there when your good hands get checked through. i suppose it depends on how mentally tough you are, which shorthanded games tend to help with. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I worked out the math in a post in the Theory forum, but got very little feedback:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...&PHPSESSID=