$5.50 Stars, Am I checking too many rivers?

[RML604]

I remember reading the concept of checking the river in position when you feel that the only hand that will call you is a better hand. I feel like I am taking that a bit too far and am leaving chips on the table by not value betting my hands on the river. Two examples from a sng i played tonight:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (5 handed)

MP (t2200)
Hero (t4760)
SB (t1150)
BB (t1745)
UTG (t3645)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Jc, As.
2 folds, Hero raises to t500, 1 fold, BB calls t350.

Flop: (t1075) 3d, 9s, Kd (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Turn: (t1075) Ah (2 players)
BB bets t150, Hero raises to t500, BB calls t350.

River: (t2075) 6c (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: t2075

--------------------------------

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (6 handed)

UTG (t1725)
Hero (t4625)
CO (t840)
Button (t1025)
SB (t590)
BB (t4695)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Qs, Js.
1 fold, Hero calls t100, 2 folds, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: (t300) 3s, 2h, 5s (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks.

Turn: (t300) 4s (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets t200, SB folds, BB raises to t400, Hero calls t200.

River: (t1100) 2s (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: t1100

My question is should I have bet either/both of those hands on the river and what should I be looking for when determining if I should check or value bet the river?

[Skeeno]

Hand 1) First off I'm throwing a continuation bet out on the flop. Secondly I've no idea what villain is trying to represent with his donk bet on turn, I'd raise him more here aswell and look to get it all in. As far as the river goes . . he's got what 745 left. I'd probably just push them all in being as he has so few remaining.

Hand 2) Raise or Fold pre. Bet flop - Turn donk bet from villain is yet again bizarre. Looks to be possibly just the ace spades. I'd probably look to raise his turn bet more as previous hand. River check in my opinion is fine as we're losing to A/K flush - 6s or house if villain is being tricky expecting you to bet, not many worse hands than Qs should call a bet unless he's a donk holding a blank 6 and no spades, his check indicates to me more that he's got a straight than anything else. I'd feel far happier value betting hand 1 than 2.

As far as your last question goes, I value bet the river when i feel confident I have the best hand and that I'll get called by someone with an inferior holding. I'll check the river hoping to catch a bluff from a player liable to bluff at signs of weakness.

[Fnord]

Hand 1: I interpret his turn donk as "hey I have a second best hand I will pay off with" and raise to 1k. River is an easy bet because you never really tested his hand.

Hand 2: I would generally re-raise the turn because there is so much money behind. Really terible river card as I think you're up against Ax or 6x here a lot.

[Poker Orifice]

Honestly I think there's a few more questions in these hands aside from just whether or not to value bet the river.
Alot depends on the playing style of your opponents and also how they perceive you on the table.
Personally I play TAG style the majority of the time and when playing the river will most often have a pretty good idea of what kind of hand I can put my opponent on. Any passive play generally keeps me from gettin' info. In sngs I'm a patient but when in a hand I am almost always attacking,.. I believe it just makes for good poker.
Just a style I have adopted that I feel most comfortable and confident with,.. each player has to adopt and develop their own style of variations of such.
GL!!

[kmind]

Hand 1: reraise turn
Hand 2: 3bet turn