How's this for probe betting?

Don't show if you win the pot. Just show something like this:

** Dealing River ** [Potsize: $0.48]

Hero bets [$0.08].....

Click to expand...

That way, we don't know if your play worked or not.

As played, I really dislike it. What information are you getting by betting so small? This looks like 97, J9, or AQ that just doesn't want to lay the hand down. Or worse, someone with 78 is sucking value out of you. And you're giving odds to both of them to draw at their hands. Sure, against fish you can 3-barrel these tiny bets and sometimes get them to fold on the river. But better players will certainly take advantage of your weak betting. And with bad players you're "tying them on" to the hand, where they're less likely to fold if you bluff the river, since there's more $ in the pot.

If you've got a solid read that your opponent is terrible, and an inclination that they might be drawing, this isn't a bad play. But I think past 2$ NL, you're going to get abused by more aggressive players.

I also think you're very lucky that your opponent wasn't on a club draw. Had he raised you on the river, you're going to be tempted to call with top pair, even though you gave him odds to draw at his flush the whole time.

For what its worth, even at 2$ NL, I raise these tiny bets with just about anything I'm willing to play.

I guess I was giving him good odds. hmmm...perhaps if there was no flush draw on the board this would have been a probe bet.

Now it just seems like a bad bet

I've noticed from a lot of your posts you've been raising pretty light out of the small blind in limped pots. The guys at these limits will pay to see a flop with almost anything really, as you have probably noticed, and your gonna be out of position which will decrease the profitability of these hands. I think your better off just completing here and seeing a flop. If I was playing this hand I probably would have just completed the sb and check folded the flop or turn, but called the river. bluffing at 2nl is most often just spewing chips, but if your gonna do it your gonna have to bet more

An example of probe betting & betting more if you're going to bluff:

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Hero is at seat 0 with $2.36.
montahg is at seat 8 with $2.26.

qqqqall posts the small blind of $.01.
montahg posts the big blind of $.02.

Hero:

Pre-flop:

1 limper calls
Hero raises to $.09.
montahg calls.

6 folds on this street

Flop (board: ): (Pot = $0.18)

montahg bets $.05. Hero raises to $.14. montahg
folds. Hero is returned $.09 (uncalled).

$.03 is raked from a pot of $.31.
Hero wins $.28.

===============================

Probe bets at this limit often mean weakness. And better players will pounce on that. Here I was going to c-bet anyways, so I went ahead and pumped his microbet up to a full one. The key is that this player's stack is deep enough to fold, and he's one of the bigger stacked thinking players. I also have outs to over cards, and I'm ahead of any non-paired flush draw. In hindsight, my raise probably should have been bigger, but at this limit I doubt they realize that they're priced in with most holdings. His tiny bet looked a lot like 88 or 99, possibly JT or something that didn't want to quit.