Hand from a 1/2 club game, and I'm interested if I missed some value here. First time playing this game, and first orbit.

V - Mid-40s woman, here with her husband/boyfriend. Seems to know the dealer, so must play somewhat frequently. Called a couple hands pre but hasn't shown yet, but this is the first orbit.

H - Mid-30s white male, first time playing here so unknown to V. Raised once to $10 and took it down pre.

Effective stacks $200.

Pre-flop - H gets 1010 in the middle position. Raises to $10. V's husband/boyfriend calls from button, V calls in the small blind.

Flop ($27 after rake) - Flop comes A102 rainbow. V checks, H bets $20, husband folds V calls.

Turn - ($63 after rake) - Turn is a 4, puts a flush draw out there. V checks, H bets $40, V calls. Is $40 too small here? I'm trying to bet enough to set up a shove on the river.

River - ($143, we each have about $130 behind) - River is a 5, no flush. V checks, H shoves.

Is river bet too big here? Not particularly worried that I'm beat, though I guess V could have something like A3 that improved. More concerned that I'm folding out Aces and random two pairs here. Would a bet of like $60-70 against an unknown be better? I don't know how many bullets she's bringing to the game, may not want to go all in in the first orbit.

Yeah, it's better to get as much value as you can on the turn, rather than the river.

Why?

Because there are many more hands on the turn that will call bets than on the river. All draws that whiff the river are snap folding.

Your turn bet isn't bad, but it should be slightly bigger. Play this hand as if you KNOW someone has an ace.

NH, WP.

I would not overthink the "unknown" factor. You are also "unknown" to her, so the larger river sizing conceivably could be read as bluffy.

Edit: I'd also make the turn sizing larger b/c an opponent is more likely to call twice. Besides, this makes a river call more attractive from an odds perspective.

grunch: played it fine

maybe you can pot the turn to get more money when villain may still be chasing or isn't as stunned with "all in". but that's player dependent too... a thinking player may not call a pot sized bet on the turn. so i think you played it fine.

Played it fine. I agree w/ betting a little more on the turn. Slightly less than the pot (50-55). I like overbetting a lot of hands for value in live small stakes. At that level, so many people start believing you never have it. It also makes them think you don't understand bet sizing. Do it intentionally, never show your cards, and create all kinds of doubt in people. You'll have people muttering about how they know you didn't have it and telling their neighbor they're going to snap you off later. People at that level also get really insecure about being run over. Keep stack sizes in mind, of course.

Ultimately, I think you played the hand well.

Not to derail, but assuming no rake was taken on river, you just paid $9 of rake in a 1/2 game. Find a new club IMO

There's a bad beat jackpot for $1, but agreed the rake sucks. In NYC though, and hard to do better than $6 or so rake cap at 1/2. Don't have time to travel to AC/Parx regularly, and I'm a rec player anyway, so I view it as a cost of a hobby that's cheaper than golf

Results - V hems and haws, flips over an A and folds. Hard to get a villain to put in 100 BB when they just have one pair, so I can see the benefits of not jamming the river, though I agree with others that I could get a bit more value on the turn, such that the all-in looks relatively smaller later.

I think u played it fine although I would bet 60-70 on river to get a crying call. Your bet sizes are fine.....u could increase it to pot but I would not lower your bets except maybe on the river