Boating up against a possible bluff?

[mason55]

I have $16 and I'm sitting on the button. 10 handed table playing 7 handed ATM. I look down at a nice A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. A couple limpers to me, I raise it to $.50. One caller who was sitting 4 seats to my right but was playing as CO in this hand. Let's gamboool!

Flop is 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
Looking pretty good for me. Guy on my right bets $2 into a $1.4 pot. Interesting. If he's playing Q5, someone is getting hurt. I call his $2 planning to go for a raise on the turn. If he wants to give me his money, I won't stop him.

Turn is the beautiful
A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

Villain checks to me. Looks like he got scared by my call. This is where I think I screwed up. Pot is about $5, I decided to bet half pot. He thought a bit and then folded. I didn't know whether to let him try to catch up and maybe stab at it again on the river if I checked, or try to build a pot to fight over. Maybe this is one of those hands I can't do anything about. Unfortunately he had just sat down when I was playing that hand because I watched him bluff off the rest of his buy-in in about 5-10 minutes. I don't think this hand is that interesting, I'm just wondering if anyone has any tricks that seem to work well in situations like these.

[amoeba]

you got the most out of it.

if he had a Q, he wouldn't have folded.sometimes they just don't have the cards.

there are no draws so even if you checked the turn, half pot the river, probably same thing would have happened.

Although, if he were prone to bluffing, I would probably check the turn.

[mason55]

Yeah I'm just trying to decided which would be better against an unknown. I know at these levels people will take a check behind on the turn as weak and will bet out again at the river, so I'm starting to think that's the best course of action. If they have a hand the money will get all in at the river anyways and if they don't they might stab at it when I check through the turn. Just kind of thinking out loud in this thread.

[Vermicious Knid]

I agree with you. If you bet the turn after he has checked, he is only going to call you with a hand (it will be a hand that you are almost certainly ahead of, but it will have to be a hand). Whether he has a hand or not, he will most likely bet the river. If he doesn't, then you make a small bet and he will fold. You are no worse off than if you had made the same small bet on the turn, but you gave him a chance to bluff again or catch up a bit. If he does have a hand (55, Qx or even Ax), you will still get plenty of action on the river.

[mason55]

Yeah, I think i'm going to make this my standard line. This just happened again (ha, I should be so lucky!) When someone bet into me with my set on the flop, I raised, he called. Turned a boat (38Q3, i had QQ) he checked, I bet 1/2 pot and he said peace out.

[amoeba]

if the flop was rainbow, you could consider just smoothcalling the flop.