Typical 10/20 line up, lots of loose passive players. This hand, main Villain is your typical 10/20 regular on the tight side and by no means a bad player, probably a small winner at this level.

Hero LP post half kill, so this hand is 15/30. Villain limp in UTG, fold to hero and raise with JdJs, BB and Villain both call to see a flop 7c5s4s 3 way. BB check and to my surprise, Villain lead. At this point, I can certainly raise with my big pair but I feel this board smash his limp/call range and raise against that range will be -EV. What you guys think? Is this still a standard raise since we are in position? As played, Hero called and BB called as well.

Turn was a 9d, BB check, Villain lead again. I thought about raising the turn to 1) price the BB if he has a draw and want to see the river, and 2) I could be ahead of Villain a good amount of time so this can be a +EV play. But if do raise here, and in order to maintain as a +EV play, we probably have to fold to a 3bet on the turn and fold to a scary river if Villain call the turn and lead again on the river. JJ just has too much SDV for me to fold. So Hero decide to call and intend to call most rivers except 3, 6, 8. Again, any thoughts on the turn play?

As played, BB fold and river was a Qs, Villain lead again and Hero called.

I appreciate comments on all three streets.

Such a wet flop. Must raise.

Such a brick turn. Must raise.

Not the best river. The line was way too passive.

Among other reasons, you want to raise to get the big blind to fold. What is this good players utg limping range in a straddle pot?

OP doesn't know what a good player is nor is he one himself

What does the bolded mean? How does that flop smash an UTG limper's range? Can you list the hands you think are in his range?

Why would you only call? Are you drawing to 2 outs? The BB has a pair or overs a ton, you want him to pay you 2 bets to see the turn.

We aren't raising because we are in position. Why do you think we should be raising the flop?

Putting your fuzzy thinking into concrete reasons will improve your game.

Why would you fold to those river cards? What is his range? What does he think you have after calling twice?

The fact that villain is still betting the river Q is concerning, but you should call.

As for the rest of the hand, raise flop, as played raise turn. Hopefully now villain shows something dumb like 66

I put villain on small to medium pocket pair or suited connectors/gaps. I seriously thought I was either way behind if villain flop straight or sets or flipping on the flop if villain on combo draw. I agree with most people here that I still raise the flop or turn and I probably would do it against most opponents except for this villain since we played heads up many times this is the first time he took that line.

After hero called the river, villain showed 5s6s for river flush and I was a statistic underdog on the flop.

that's why I ask for comments try to improve my game

I can definitely see villain betting 66 but based on our history, I highly doubt he would fire again on the turn with such hand and instead he would check call with such hand on the turn and probably check fold river.

Now, if we decide to raise flop, should hero take the following line according to hypothetical actions?
1) vallain b/3b, then hero will call down unless 3,6,8 or spades fall on the turn or river.
2) vallain c and lead on a 3,6,8, spades turn. Then hero would fold to 3,6,8 and call the spade turn.

As played, I definitely more on board of raising turn, but what should hero do if following actions happened?
1) vallain b/3b on the 9d turn, hero fold?
2) vallain c and lead on a 3,6,8, spade river, hero fold?

I kind of run those situation through my mind on the flop and decide there are too much SDV in JJ, hence why take the original line but certainly welcome any comments.

FWIW, I didn't think villain is a good player nor do I think I am good enough compare to some people on this board. I've been read post here and definitely improved my game. As of now I am doing well at the lower level but hoping to be able to move up and compete at the higher level some day.

There's def times when this line is correct. I played a near identical hand his week where I had KK in this spot and called 3 times. Basically it's against your typical pro/2+2 poster who thinks utg should lead sets jn this spot so they can b/3b the field. But they have to be massively unbalanced and never leading Top pair. I also think it's far better to call down with AA/KK than JJ here as they basically have east same equity vs donker but AA/KK actually benefits when third player has naked overs. If we have JJ and he peels KQ it's bad.

Without knowing the tendencies of UTG and it being a smaller game my default would
Be to raise and assume he can have 88, A7s stuff just as easily as sets.

Good post imo.

OP, remember most players aren't going to be as thinking as the villain in that KK hand. At these smaller stakes, most villain donks mean "medium strength hand that doesn't want to check raise". Sometimes villains will do this with monsters, but these are still often level 1 thinkers only playing their hand.

You described UTG as a tight small winner in the game. If so, it is completely impossible for him to have flopped a straight. The reason ZOMG commented that was to point out that your description of players and thinking shows you know the words but not what they mean. At a tangent, most people who flop sets don't donk into the raiser.

It's critical that you remember there's a 3rd player in the BB who will call with any pair or overs if you only call the flop. If you and UTG are 40% to win and the BB calls your raise you are making money. With JJ you don't want to let the BB call at 8:1 with KQ or one pair + an over. In the "bad case" BB folds and UTG has a flush draw with an over (you are a slight favorite), an under pair (you are a huge favorite), 66 (you are still a good favorite) When he shows a set, you take a note, adjust and move on.

Mostly GOOD things can happen when you raise in this spot, a lot of bad things can happen if you just call.

Tight players don't limp 6 high utg either.

i dont think flop call is that bad (probably just slightly worse than raising). after all it's probably best to not keep your flop call range on undercard boards to only whiffed overs (too easy to read) and you can wait for safe turns to pop it (safe turns being anything that doesn't complete a 4 card straight or isnt an Ace). this turn certainly qualifies, however, and you should now raise.

The default play is to raise the flop. I think you know that. But part of the fun of poker is using your reads to deviate from the standard plays. Sometimes you just know that a particular villain has a very good hand, either since he is usually very tight, or based on how fast he bet, or maybe the expression on his face as he looked at the flop.

In this hand, you had a read and you modified the standard strategy based on that. You thought you were either way ahead / way behind, or else flipping. You modified your strategy (which has the negative effect of letting the third play stick around who could also possibly suck out on you). Whether this was correct or not depends on how sure you were of your read.

I agree with some of the thinking and HU with villain I like the play. But giving BB 9:1 to peel is not good, you have to raise the flop to price him out.

In the Bellagio 10/20 (which is tighter than the OP describes) I watched a 40/80 player and someone I'd have called a nitty 10/20 reg go multiple bets on multiple streets on a board like this. Think it was TT vs. 88 or something. Think the 40/80 player decided to limp and call a raise with 88 from UTG+1. This to say "crushes a limping range" may well include overpairs and just because you get action doesn't mean some overpair is crushed.

All this talk about when to protect your hand confuses me, tbh. I'm raising for sure, and it isn't hoping that worse will fold.

Villain had 5s6s? And flop was 7d5s4s? Everyone gets their money back.

My bad, villain had 6s7s.

What reasons did you have to describe him as tight and a winner in the game? People who limp 7 high under the gun don't just start doing it out of the blue.

Winners don't limp 7-hi UTG and then donk when they flop the rainmaker.