This hand came up in my last game of today's session, a $20 regular speed game.
Reads: Opponent is solid, tight-aggressive player who raises almost every button and folds almost every BB so far. Most hands don't see a flop.
Preflop: Hero is SB with
, 
Hero bets t90, Villain calls t60
I raise to take his blind, as he's folding 90% of the time with very little 3-betting.
Flop: (t180)
, 
, 
(2 players)Villain checks, Hero bets t90, Villain calls t90
Here I consider checking behind, but venture a cautious bet as I believe this flop has missed a good portion of his calling range (which I'm thinking of as mostly A7-AT, K9+, QT+).
Turn: (t360)
(2 players)Villain checks, Hero checks
After he calls the flop, I don't plan on betting again. Picking up a straight draw on the turn gives me all the more reason to check behind, as I don't want to get check-raised off a hand that now has more potential.
River: (t360)
(2 players)Villain bets t240, Hero raises to t750, Villain calls t510
Gin. He bets 2/3 pot, and I shake with glee as I am convinced that he likes his hand enough to call a raise. How much can I raise in order to elicit a call from top pair? I settle on a relatively small raise instead of a push as I feel that he simply wont call a shove on such a dangerous-looking board with only top pair. He tanks for 15 seconds for so and makes the call.
Total pot: t1860
Later in the match Villain asked me if, since this was "obviously going to be our last match", I would tell him if I would have raised A3 or A5 on that river. The question apparently had influenced his call on the end. I told him probably not, but I'm still not sure if that's true.
I thought this hand was interesting because I was offered this window into my opponent's thought process, and it made me consider the hand from his point of view again. Would you call here with the A9? Does this look like some pathetic river bluff by a worse hand (as I was thinking it might at the time)? Would you raise here with 2 pair? Shove? Thoughts/comments appreciated.
