New member here on RIO. Thanks in advance for any help and thoughts that may be forthcoming.

Ok so my question is regarding river bet sizing.

Great players are sometimes three barreling with air especially when their opponents range is consists of hands that will fold to this line. Others dont necessarily bluff all streets but selectively bluff the river when they can put their opponent on a hand that can fold to riverbet.

My question is about balancing sizing vs good opponents. Often a good/thinking player or even a fish will call a smallish (half pot sized bet) on the river because the odds may dictate that you are bluffing enough for their call to be profitable.

However when we go for thin value, we are often betting small enough to warrant a call from mediocre hands.

It seems to me that its difficult to stay balanced. If I'm hand reading well and I can put my opponent on a hand that can call a half pot sized bet on the river but will fold to more then doesn't that mean when i'm bluffing I should be betting more to get them to fold?

How do I reconcile this issue with unbalanced river bet sizing? Thin value (small bet) vs bluffing (larger bet - difficult to call). It seems exploitable when my bluff sizing is larger than my thinner value lines?

Sorry if this is a really basic question but watching some of the videos and reading hand histories on this site and others it seems to me like sizing on the river is difficult and hard to balance well. Sorry if the question is confusing.