Made hands

When you know you have the made hand, and it comes to the river, is it generally better to bet big and get a fold, or bet small enough to keep the other guy in?

I ask, b/c I think betting big knowing the villian will fold conceals your hand, thus preventing possible reads. But it also = less money...

opinions, comments?

Making money >>>>>>>>>>>>> (that means much much better than) preventing reads.

Its not even close.

I'd totally ignore the reads part.. which of the two you chose really depends on what you think your opponent is gonna do. If you're pretty sure he is gonna fold to a whopper, then bet small. If you think he might take it, bet as big as you can. That's what I do atleast. Also at 10NL there's always the chance you are playing a guy who will check/call even with the nuts.. if I'm up against one of those and there is a hand out there that can beat me, I tend to bet small on the river just in case. If however it's against one of those uber aggressive borderline-maniacs who will overraise anything he gets.. then it's all-in!

Originally Posted by thegreatbuddha

I ask, b/c I think betting big knowing the villian will fold conceals your hand, thus preventing possible reads. But it also = less money...

That is negative thinking. If you have the nuts on the river you don't want to be thinking "I want my hand to be concealed," you want to think "How much more can I get out of this sucker?" There are a few things to do, most are solely dependant on villian.

Value betting is a nice idea here. Let's say you hold AK on a board of 698J2. If the pot is 500, and you bet 100, villian is going to have a tought time folding with 5:1 on his money if he holds say, AJ. You might even get a re raise if he has a 10. Value betting to most new players looks weak. "You only bet 100? Well take this then!" That is why I sometimes try this type of betting.

Another way is almost the opposite of value betting. I do this when villian calls with modest cards. Let's say the same flop and cards, and you bet 500 into a pot of 500. Villian might call here if he calls with modest hands and it also looks like a bluff. Why would someone bet so much on the river with a hand they want to extract money from? This is a way of concealing your hand, but getting paid for it.

I think you might be slighty confused, because keeping your opponents guessing is very very important, but when you have the nuts, you want a showdown, no matter what.

thanks for the advice

The other thing to consider is that you are hopefully playing stakes where you are above average. A showdown will give you more information than it will give him.