Value bet on river?

[juvydriver]

Villian is unknown. Only been playing for one orbit or so. Not playing a lot of hands.

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Cake Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.04 BB (5 handed) - Cake-Poker Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($2.22)
Hero (Button) ($4.38)
SB ($6.80)
BB ($2.40)
UTG ($5.62)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q, Q
2 folds, Hero bets $0.14, 1 fold, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.30) 3, 9, A (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.20, BB calls $0.20

Turn: ($0.70) 7 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.50, BB calls $0.50

River: ($1.70) 6 (2 players)
BB checks
Hero??
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He took a fair amount of time on each street to call my bets after checking to me. I wasn't sure to take that as some sort of mid pair or a big hand.
This is an easy value bet right?

[Aji89]

Easy check behind against an unknown. It's unlikely he'll call with worse on the river often enough for this to be profitable even if you do think you're ahead of his range.

[no eff eks]

I actually think a bet of under 1/2 pot is okay here... he's played this a lot like a tightish player would play 9x, and I expect him to pay off a small bet with that hand.

[postoakpoker]

he's also played it like he has a weak Ax. now THIS is thin if you're valuebetting here NOFX

[200b]

I would check the river. If I had an ace I could make a small valuebet. Since villain is calling a double barrel, he has shown strength. I think he will not call a third barrel with something less than an ace. To check on the river is a way of making your play easy, which is what I think you should aim at at NL4. Just make use of the fishes big mistakes to get a nice winrate. Thin valuebets is absolutely not needed to win even at NL25. Let's say BB raises your river bet a little. Then you almost have to call, just in case he is bluffing, and then the value bet cost you more. I think, if your hand is the best, you have been payed as much as you reasonably can.

[postoakpoker]

a river CR will almost certainly not be a bluff at 4nl.

[chinz]

I'd rather check behind the turn, trying to induce a bluff/valuebet or make a call with 9 for another street... I think it's more likely that way to get 2 streets of value, than betting the flop and turn.

[crypto007]

I would check the river. I think you will find he has a weak A here most of the time.

[juvydriver]

So it would seem that I get this backwards everytime. Haha. I thought about checking behind here b/c he had shown some strength and I thought it was possible he had a weak ace so I actually bet about 2/3 of the pot which I figured would either result in him folding or shoving his last $.50 of so into the pot...which is of course what happened. I didn't expect that he would turn over AK.

What's a little crazy is this is a spot that I usually do check behind and it seems like it's always some guy playing 88 or something similar. Oh well. I made a note about how he played the hand..and how I played it and moved on.

Thanks for the responses.

[Eldrone]

Check