To be the most efficient kind of poker online player, you always want to get the maximum value on your big hands. With made hands, it is more a question of how much to bet that will get called, whereas with smaller hands, the question is more whether to bet at all.
I’ve found I’ll often check hands that might could have been bet on the river when I have a decent hand but not the nuts (or even close to it), even if I’m fairly certain the other poker player has a piece of it and might pay off. This is of course a safety valve against getting check raised and lose the pot, though often, against certain types of straight-forward players, the river bet or no bet, in position, can be a clear teller whether or not you have the best hand.
If a basic player is drawing and hits, most straightforward players are going to bet to try to get paid. It takes a very certain, brave kind of player to check his monster on the river, as most are afraid they won’t get paid. In these cases you can probably guess that when the “safe” player checks on the river, he will likely either fold or pay off a decent value bet. Not betting, then, seems more often an easily foregone thing, and a lost opportunity that too many poker online players pass up on.
