A♠5♠ SB vs BTN, river on Q♣ 9♦ 6♣ 2♠ A♦, 75 bb

Best play: Check

Why

River Q9 6 2 A; hero A-spade-5-spade made only top pair of aces with a weak 5 kicker, no flush (just two clubs on board). Hero is out of position in the SB versus the BTN, so this marginal one-pair hand functions as a bluff‑catcher or thin showdown holding, not an overbet candidate. Overbetting 120 percent folds out every worse hand and gets called only by better aces, two pair, and sets, so a check or at most a small bet is correct; the overbet is value-betting a hand that beats only bluffs.

Key idea

Do not overbet a weak-kicker top pair out of position; it only beats bluffs and gets called by better.

Common mistake

Overbetting a bluff‑catcher top pair for value, which folds worse and is called only by hands that beat you.