P.S. I realize this is a fairly basic concept, and many of you probably do this al the time (I do), but I remember how fantastic I thought this was once I figured it out and wished I had learned it sooner. I believe betting the river with a medium strength hand is one of the biggest mistakes newer players make. I see it happen all the time.
This goes for being second to act too. I explained it above with you in early position, but it's pretty much the same thing if you are last to act. If he checks to you, unless you have a monster, just check. Most of the time, if you bet, he's only going to call (or raise!) with a hand better than yours. If he has a bad hand (like a missed draw), he's gong to fold and you don't win any more anyway.
And yes, of course you should value bet here if your opponent is a major calling station and is likely to call you with 3rd or 4th pair. Everything in poker is situational... I'm just talking generally, against your average opponent or someone you know nothing about.
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