200NL Passive with AK, learning poker again

I didn't really know this guy, but he seemed decent at the time. Nothing too special of course but you know... Anyways, I didn't want to commit so much of my stack with a big turn raise and put $250 at risk so I just called. But see, donkbets are such stupid crap half the time that your tptk is good. So I get into this dilemma of missing value vs playing big pots with a wider range and potentially losing stacks that I wouldn't have lost had I played it safer.

I think that maybe I should have value bet the river but the pot was already like 130ish and I was thinking that I was only realistically going to get value out of KQ and myabe KJ so why risk not getting a showdown? But I sometimes out think myself like this and should just let my brilliant opponents decide on what to call VBs with.

broncohale is at seat 0 with $84.20.
villain is at seat 1 with $249.75.
Zoso21 is at seat 2 with $102.60 (sitting out).
bukiejr is at seat 3 with $32.85.
bonio is at seat 4 with $184.75.
hero is at seat 5 with $744.70.
The button is at seat 5.

broncohale posts the small blind of $1.
villain posts the big blind of $2.

broncohale: -- --
villain: -- --
bukiejr: -- --
bonio: -- --
hero: Kc Ah

Pre-flop:

bukiejr folds. bonio calls. hero raises to
$9. broncohale folds. villain calls. bonio
calls.

Flop (board: Kd 4d 7c):

villain checks. bonio checks. hero bets
$21. villain calls. bonio folds.

Turn (board: Kd 4d 7c 7s):

villain bets $32. hero calls.

River (board: Kd 4d 7c 7s 3s):

villain checks. hero checks.

I probably call too but no betting on the river?

How about a half pot of about 60-70 and fold to river c/r?

either getting c/r'ed or opp has given it up puting you on a hand.
Id bet less than half the pot and hope some random hand calls. I think a wider range than simply KQ/KJ calls the flop bet and leads the turn but i agree few hands we beat will ever call a real river bet, like half the pot unless opp is dumb/calling station.

i bet alot on river hoping to get called by worse, hardly ever see a c/r here

Even if we ignore a c/r, it's obvious that no better hand will fold. So we bet if we think that, of the hands the villian will call with, we beat at least 50% of them. Villian may call with 88/99/KQ/KJ. (Assuming he wouldn't raise those hands preflop). Villian will also call with hands like 56/X7/33/44. Still, you'd expect villian to lead with any of those hands if he puts you on AA/AK/KQ as you may (as you did) view your hand as to week to value bet on the river with.

Maybe the ability to squeeze value out of these types of hands is what seperates players?