$2 NLHE Full Ring: Steal attempt thwarted?

So Im in the magic position of holding the button unopened with A8 how do you feel about the way this went down.

SB: $1.67 - VPIP: 25, PFR: 11, 3B: 0, AF: 2.2, hands: 83
BB: $0.83 - VPIP: 0, PFR: 0, 3B: 0, AF: NaN, Hands: 13
UTG: $2.00 - VPIP: 14, PFR: 3, 3B: 7, AF: 0.0, Hands: 37
UTG+1: $2.00 - VPIP: 15, PFR: 8, 3B: 0, AF: Infinity, Hands: 26
MP: $1.91 - VPIP: 10, PFR: 8, 3B: 2, AF: 7.0, Hands: 151
CO: $1.29 - VPIP: 21, PFR: 9, 3B: 5, AF: 3.3, Hands: 58
Hero (BTN): $2.02 - VPIP: 13, PFR: 9, 3B: 3, AF: 3.0, Hands: 4739

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BTN with 8 :heart: A :diamond:
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, SB calls $0.07, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.18) 8 :club: Q :spade: 5 :diamond: (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.16, SB calls $0.16

Turn: ($0.50) 5 :spade: (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.20, SB calls $0.20

River: ($0.90) 3 :heart: (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

How often does the sb fold to c-bets? If he folds a lot 60%+ then i would bet the flop but smaller like 0.10, then i'd maybe just check back the turn if he tends to fold to cbets a lot. If he doesn't fold to c-bets very often at all then i'd still bet smaller on the flop and probably bet on the turn and check back the river too, only if i assume he doesnt fold to cbets and will call with A high, worse pairs etc.

Why bet smaller on the flop if he doesnt fold to cbets very often? In that case shouldnt we bet even bigger? If his calling range wont change between half pot and full pot for example, we might as well bet full pot.

Other than that i agree with acky.

dooydoo said:

Why bet smaller on the flop if he doesnt fold to cbets very often? In that case shouldnt we bet even bigger? If his calling range wont change between half pot and full pot for example, we might as well bet full pot.

Other than that i agree with acky.

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You're right if he will still float us/call with a very similar range when we bet almost pot like we did here, i bet smaller in spots like this where my range is super wide in general, because im obviously going to be bluffing a lot, but yeah vs this fish none of that stuff matters.

So betting this size to exploit him is cool if he isnt gonna change his calling range i.e. wont fold out junk that he would float us with or draws/2nd pair/3rd pair.

If you think he might fold some of this, maybe it's better to bet a size that will let us get more value from worse hands?

Given the way the hand went in regards to him calling, if he doesnt have a Q have we got him beat most of the time? Would you have bet the river or is it damage control time?

well he can also have higher pocket pairs 9-J that beat us, but i think it might be a bit thin going for 3 streets of value here. He still does have a lot of Qx in his range and we're gonna struggle getting called 3 times by worse, i check the river back i think... Could be merit in a small river bet, not too convinced though

I like checking back the flop.

Bet less on the flop, we want calls from gutshots. Check the turn & fold to a river bet. Betting the turn small for a free showdown on the river is probably your second best option, but I don't think players like this are peeling too many JT type hands.

I don't like checking back the flop, since there's no real cards that can help our hand, and many that will help our opponent's. C-bet because its our best chance to get called by worse and protect our hand's showdown value.