This hand happened like 2 years ago.. I know lol.

We are short handed, like 6 people.

UTG opens pot $50... yes $50

Hero UTG+1 has QQ

Hero has $250
Villain has $200

Villain is obv terrible. He over values big pp's and plays a little scared. He's not really lag, but he's not completely tag. His bet sizing is terrible obv.

Do we just fold and say eff it, next hand, or do we shove? I remember this hand because I have never seen anyone open for 25BB's before UTG. Was pretty effin funny.

It's totally read-based, so it's hard for anyone here to recommend something. Different villains will make this bet with different hands, all with their own little weird justifications for it.

Some do it with TT/JJ because they consider them premium hands that could be committed, but they hate to see a flop because overcards always come.

Some do it with AA/KK because you gotta bet big with your big hands, or something like that.

Some do it with AK because they hear that you're supposed to play that hand really strongly.

Try I may offer him a $1 or 2 to show his hand after the hand is completed. Obviously this information is very valuable. I would probably fold against a villain who has never done this before, but it's an ugly spot. I expect to see AA/KK around 60% of the time here (very rough estimate) and worse hands about 40% of the time.

Reads are above. I couldnt tell you anymore beyond that because as soon as the bet happened the whole table started cracking up. I know dont tap on the glass... But cmon it was lol funny.

I've found that most of the time in live 1/2 NL when a player opens UTG for a huge raise it is usually TT-JJ for the exact reasons you stated. On top of this it's shorthanded when they have a hand like AA-KK they usually don't want to kill all the action with a huge raise from UTG. Of course it's all read specific but if you don't have a read that tells you he's only doing this with AA/KK I would shove here.

I feel like call > shove, since he probably folds JJ-TT but not sure where to rank folding. lol. With AKs I would shove due to the fold equity it offers and reduced chance of seeing AA-KK. I would also shove KK and flat AA.

I think a call will just put us in a worse situation OOP. For example, the flop comes 537 rainbow. If you check and villain shoves what do you do now?
He does this with JJ/TT/AK just as much as he does this with AA or KK. We know nothing more then we did pre flop and we spent an extra 50 dollars to do it.
You leave yourself no betting options besides check or all in since even betting half the pot on the flop will force him to have over 50% of his stack in the pot and basically commits him even if he wants to just call.

^ to previous poster, OP is not OOP vs. the UTG raiser. Not that it changes much on the flop.

To OP: in this spot I'll probably fold and not tell anyone. The one time I've seen someone open for >15BBs UTG it was AA, and truth of the matter is most of his range here is at least a coinflip vs. our QQ. So, die a little inside, pass QQ pre, spend the rest of the night trying to figure out what his UTG range is really like