1/3 NL, not much info on opponents.

3 Players Limp, Hero in BB w/ 88 makes it $25

HJ and BTN call.

Flop ($82) - Q82

What's generally the best line to extract value in this spot multi on such an unconnected board? All stacks ~$300 to start.

Lead $25

+1. And then Bet turn - ship river

Make your normal cbet size rather than polarizing your range with a small bet. Anything less than TP is just going to fold. TP will call more than 25.

Do you know what the odds are of you
1) flopping a set AND
2) one of those 2 guys flopping TP with a really good kicker AND
3) having a really good kicker which means AQ or KQ and not having raised preflop themselves?

I dont know the odds but they have to be in the 100:1 range. Good luck getting paid off by raising this preflop OOP and then just bet..bet..betting. Its really a bad line overall unless you plan in advance to bet...bet...bet as a bluff also when there's 2+ overcards on the board and I doubt you will do that.

+1...also, keep in mind that your opponents don't know that you flopped a set. They could think you are just trying to take it down with a whiffed AK.

I’d recommend $45 OTF, just slightly less than what a normal c-bet would be. Would bet the same $45 on the turn. V’s will see pot odds and read weakness. River either bet $100 or shove for $200 depending on live reads. I find V’s stickier on the flop than the turn, hence the turn slow down.

Your range doesn’t become polarized by betting small. You range bet small here because it’s a bone dry board and you entice weak floats with your value hands while also giving yourself incredibly cheap bluffs and future street flexibility.

Saying nobody is calling a $25 bet without top pair is just flat out wrong. You are going to get floated by the gutters JT/J9/T9 as well as any pair + BDFD and strong BDFD hands like ATs, KJs etc.

With only one caller you can get your $300 stack in with a b/b/b line of:

Flop 25/75
Turn 75/125
River 175/275

+1, the downbet is opposite of polarized... with such a small bet we can make it wider since it doesn't have to work as often.

This math is actually the wrong math to be doing.

The reason is because we have already flopped a set, so we are not looking for the probability of all 3 of these things occurring, but instead of the conditional probability of these 3 things, given that the first occurs.

If you believe the probability of all of these things is in the 100:1 range, then the conditional probability is almost certainly less than 15:1, probably more like 13:1 or 12:1. That's still unlikely but it's a LOT more likely than you're trying to convince OP it is.

Also, bet/bet/bet is clearly the way to go postflop; it's just a question of how the bets are sized. I'd want to know stack sizes, which OP has omitted, before deciding on sizing.

+1, the downbet is opposite of polarized... with such a small bet we can make it wider since it doesn't have to work as often.

I typically don't raise 88 out-of-the blinds at these stacks to begin with, but even moreso if I have no info on opponents (building bloated pots OOP to unknowns where we mostly flop horrible is very meh, imo).

SPR is just over 3, so we can play for stacks with just 1/2 PSBs. So I'd likely bet $40 and go from there. A check (hoping to induce or hoping someone catches a card on this drawless board to continue) also isn't horrible, mostly because with a small SPR like this we can still play for stacks with 2 large bets even if the flop checks thru. Either/or, imo.

GcluelessNLnoobG

My post was explaining why raising preflop is usually a bad idea in this spot, which is why I included all 3 events. When he doesnt flop a set hes OOP and will feel like has has to Cbet too many flops...and when he does flop a set the odds are pretty low that hes going to get paid off. The odds of getting paid off when calling a raise with 88 are much much higher than when you raise with it yourself. Raising this when OOP is pretty bad IMO.

Yep this. Bet, bet smallish like 25 mentioned earlier. You want calls from (most probable) underpairs to flop and Ace/King holdings (yes these people will call here...)

Do we really want to let gutters draw for only $25? It seems like we are giving them almost the implied odds they need to stack us. We’ll fill up on the river some, so they are probably making a small mistake calling with a gut shot, but it isn’t a big one.

I’m with GG thinking that we should bet a more standard $40ish.

Gutters are ~8% to hit here as has 4 outs, right?

We’re also betting small so all the cool GTO wannabe wizard kids can c/r their gutter with backdoor FD. Or just letting someone spazz

He’s probably going to get your whole stack when he hits though, isn’t he? So he’s getting ~ 14:1 implied odds. Granted, we’ll fill up on the river sometimes, so it is a mistake for him to call, but I’m not exactly fist-pumping about a gutter calling me here. I think I’d rather bet $40 and lose the gutters while making more when they hit top pair.

Plus, sometimes the gutter/small pair/bottom pair will put you on AK and call $40. Don’t people call your flop cbets with more than just top pair?

They won’t do that when we bet $40?

They'll be less likely since they have to raise to a larger amount that effectively commits them for stacks

Bet $25, they can raise to $65-100 and shove turn for PSB which is tougher to call off. Bet $40, they have to raise to $120-150 and shove turn for half pot when they're almost always getting called by anything that calls a raise on this flop. Obviously not everyone will do this, but some people will. It's harder to raise a "larger" bet on this flop from the PFR. We also want to make it look like a whiffed AK/AJ/AT/gutter/underpair too, while $40 is sizing someone would use more often with Qx+. There's also literally zero bad turn cards to worry about so we don't have to protect against anything.

I typically don’t size my whiffed cbets differently than my Qx+ bets in this situation. That seems like a pretty easy think for an opponent to pick up on.

Then size your Qx and AK and 99 and everything else you bet for $25.

Problem solved.

I much prefer checking to betting 25. I understand some of the theory, but for these stakes, doesn't seem that relevant.

Not saying I prefer check to cbet, but on this flop I think hero can check a high frequency if he feels like it. It's only one raise into a limped pot preflop, I would expect more mixed strategies than standard lines in this spot, especially since the raising range can be variable.