My aces got cracked three times in my first hour at the new limit, so I'm posting a sample hand to see what I'm doing wrong. Sorry for posting results, but I'm wondering if there was anything I could have done to push this bozo off the pot.

3/4 flop, 3/4 turn, c/f river

raise much bigger pre since you are oop, I'd make it at least 0.5. Bet more on flop/turn and c/f river since you beat nothing

Why do you want to "push this bozo off the pot"?

If that river card didn't push you off the hand then you played it such that he was justified to do what he did on every street. I agree to raise more pre OOP but that isn't that big a mistake. Your sizing OTF and OTT are such that he is right to call, especially if he suspects you will pay off if he gets there. His implied odds only come into play if you can't release the hand when you believe he gets there.

What hands are in his range that gave you a reason to call the river bet? I can't think of one that would have him make that bet OTR.

$.50 preflop for value.

As played preflop, bet at least .50 on the flop and probably more like .60-.65 because a lot of your opponent's limp/call range is going to call at least one bet on this board.

In general, betting the turn 2/3-3/4 pot (if not full pot) is good. If he peeled the flop with broadways, he's probably folding regardless, so the plan should be to maximize value vs pair/draw hands.

The river completes everything under the sun either with a straight, two pair, or a flush. The only worse hand that might call a bet are TP-type hands and overpairs and frankly, compared to the amount of 2pair hands, straights, flushes, sets, etc there just aren't enough worse hands that call a bet. Since betting is out, that leaves us with either check-folding or check-calling. Most of the time, when a player bets this kind of board (especially when checked to) they either have air, or something VERY strong because of how scary the board is. If you check-call in a spot like this, you'd be bluff-catching. The problem with that in this specific hand is that everything got there. He really can't have bluffs after calling two streets when this river hits so the best play is to check-fold. Overall, the hand should play out something like this.



Hero (BB): $10.45 (104.5 bb)
MP1: $11.07 (110.7 bb)
MP2: $9.45 (94.5 bb)
MP3: $11.76 (117.6 bb)
SB: $3.64 (36.4 bb)
BTN: $10.77 (107.7 bb)
CO: $3.04 (30.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A A
MP1 folds, MP2 calls $0.10, 4 folds, Hero raises to $0.50, MP2 calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.05) 4 7 T:diamond (2 players)
Hero bets $0.90, MP2 calls $0.90

Turn: ($2.85) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $2.20, MP2 calls $2.20

River: ($7.25) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $5.85 all-in, Hero folds.

This way, we build a much bigger pot for when he has a draw that doesn't get there on the river (note how much bigger this river pot is than the one in your hand). If he does get there, he wins an additional 80 cents...but he had to pay an additional $2.40 (ish) to get there.

Cliff notes: bet big for value and don't bluff-catch when all the draws come in.

As an aside, let's say the board was like this

Flop: ($0.65) 4 7 T (2 players)
Hero bets $0.31, MP2 calls $0.31

Turn: ($1.27) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $0.60, MP2 calls $0.60

River: ($2.47) 2 (2 players)


Now the line of

Hero checks, MP2 bets $1.60, Hero calls $1.60

makes a lot more sense (especially if the opponent is aggressive) since all the draws missed.

Your betsizing is much too small on each street.

This

More pre, more flop, more turn. Read RapidEvolution's post several times.

why not river bet? and why not raise? if raise, no worse call us and just better call or reraise?

I want to thank RapidEvolution for the detailed analysis, and also everyone else who commented.

I'm guessing it'll be three or four years and about 30-40 redeposits before I become a decent poker player. It's depressing.

remember this sentence in 3 months

More pre, more on the flop, more on the turn. Possibly fold the river depending on the player type and the remaining stacks.

This is right on and the obvious is that if you had bet more pre, OTF and OTT, then the river basically tells you everything you need to know.

stats/reads on villain would be helpful, but as a default bet more pre, bet more on the flop, bet more on the turn. you can c/f river because you don't beat anything.