Raise On The River - Don't Call With Nothing

I can’t figure this out, this happened twice to me today.  I am playing a .50/$1 limit ring game, and on the river I have bottom pair no one else bets so I bet.  

Actually once I had bottom pair, and once I have an under pair - 22 in the big blind.

My bet is a total bluff; one person calls me both times so I am sunk, I know I have lost the hand.  Then I win!  How is this possible?

I keep wondering what the heck was this person thinking - calling on the river with a King or Ace high?  

If they would have raised I would have folded, and they would have won.  Both times… That would have been a great play.

But since they just called the only chance they had to win was if I was betting with a Queen high? Is that what they were hoping for?

I can’t imagine.

If you’re on the river with your King high and someone else bets.  Either fold or raise, don’t call their bet because you won’t win money doing that.

I can think of a couple times that I was playing in the last year that I just really wanted to see someone’s cards to figure out how they were playing.

I am sure that these guys were not willing to pay just to see how I was playing.  But I am still puzzled by what they were doing.

I am puzzled, but I would really like to keep playing with them, those are the kind of plays that keep me playing poker.