This hand is from the first time I ever played 2/5 NL. I am at a 9 handed cash game at the Borgata. I would love some comments on this hand which was the very first 2/5 hand I ever played as I was very unsure of where I stood on the river and feel that I definitely didn’t take the best line.

Im sitting with a stack of about $480. I sat down about 30 min ago and had yet to open a pot or play a hand. The action had been pretty straight forward and at this point I didn’t have any significant reads on any of the players. I opened QJo from UTG+3. The standard raise at my table had been between $20-$30 so i raised to $25 and it folded to the villain on the button.

Villain was a middle aged woman who looked like a regular at the table. From the little I saw of her so far she seemed like a competent player, but I had very little info on her. She raised me from the button to $60. She covered me so my stack was the effective stack.

While the raise was on the smaller side, I wasn’t too interested in getting involved in a large pot oop with QJo, but surprisingly the BB called her 3-Bet. Now that I was getting over 4-1 i decided I’d see a flop.

Flop: 3,3,6 rainbow

BB: Checks

Hero: Checks. I think this is a standard check given her 3-bet.

Villain: considers C-Betting for a moment but looks at us and then checks behind

I would have expected her to C-Bet this flop with most hands as it would be difficult for me or the BB to connect without a pocket pair. I think she could be balancing her check range with a big pair such as AA, or potentially AK/AQ which she may not want to get c/r on based on my stack

Turn: Q

BB: Checks

Hero: I considered betting out here but in the moment I thought that my top pair decent kicker played better as a check call, so I checked. After thinking more after the hand. I think leading here would leave me with less difficult decisions.

Villain: bets 100 into 187

BB folds and Hero: calls

River: 9

Hero: Checks. At this point i don’t think I could get called by a hand that I’m beating so my plan was to check and evaluate the villian’s bet assuming she bets the river.

Villain: took a few seconds and then bet 150 into 387

I found myself in a slightly uncomfortable position here. On one hand, I felt that I had a relatively strong hand which I played very passively (mostly due to the 3-bet preflop). In the moment, i felt that I was either up against AQ, AK, or AA. Considering the odds she was giving me with the river bet, it felt that she really wanted/expected me to call with a queen. I would have expected her to bet a bit bigger with AK in order to put the most pressure on me as I still had $320 left behind and the pot was $387. 

After further thought away from the table, I think my range from her perspective looks like a medium pocket pair or a weak queen. Both of which she may think she can bluff me off of with a decent bet.

In the moment, i wasn’t really sure where I was at, and I was so focused on her having AQ or AA that I decided to fold. I was not confident in any of my options.

Does anyone have any tips/suggestions on how I could’ve played this hand a bit better? Do I just need to call down with a weak top pair here?