$1/2 NL Live. Effective stacks are between $200-300.

Hero is BB, two soft, straightforward villains in MP and a new villain on the button that I don't have a read on.

Hero is dealt JJ. All 3 villains limp and everyone else folds. I make it $17 total from the BB and all 3 villains call. Pot is $64 after rake.

Flop 2h Kc 8s

Hero checks
V1 checks
V2 checks
V3 bets $60

Fold, fold, fold. V3 takes it down.

Couple of questions.

1) Was $17 PF not enough? That seems like a good amount from the BB to knock out limpers and isolate 1 but I guess I should have gone stronger to $25.

2) This happens to everyone so what is the best way to play it on the flop? Since I have FE on my side due to the PF raise should I lead out for 2/3 of the pot? It's really hard to know whether you are good or not here with 3 limpers that all call. K10s, KJ, KQ coming along? Sure why not. Pocket 2s or 8s trying to setmine with 2-3 callers? Sure why not.

What is a better move, check raising 3-4x the bet from the BB or leading out on the flop and then being faced with a tough decision on the turn if villain smooth calls? Check raising to $180 seems incredibly spewy but at least you know you're beat if he calls or reraises but still ... I don't know.

Do you just throw this one away since the pot is bloated and you are out of position with a pair that isn't TP?

I don't really know what else I could have done here besides leading the flop or raising more PF (which I think will end up being consensus).

Gh. Appropriate pfr, c/f flop.

Standard spot. Once you get called by 3 people there are few flops where you can feel comfortable with JJ. Good check/fold.

Good fold. You played the hand fine. You had the best hand preflop, but not on the flop. A c-bet is risky against 3 people OOP. A check-raise is pure spew.

Thanks guys. @Franklin, I went to undergrad at Bentley in Waltham and played at a really good underground game in Brighton one time. Bought in for $200 walked away with $800 and haven't been back since.

I won't start another thread I'll just add it here. The day before this hand took place I once again had JJ but I was on the button. Effective stacks of $200. First orbit at the table so no real reads on anyone. Folded around to CO who makes it $15. I call. SB makes it $57 total, BB folds, CO folds and I think for a little while before ultimately folding.

My reasoning was calling the $57 is putting just under 30% of my stack in the pot. I've been reading Professional NL Hold 'Em and it says in general, if you put 30% of your stack into the pot and then fold you probably did something wrong. Doesn't leave a lot of room on the flop for anything besides pushing. Would be $126 in the pot and I would have $143 left.

In a situation like this, if you are trying to isolate the lone raiser who could be raising light from the CO should I bump it to 3x the raise something like $40-45? That would give me the upper hand in the pot, especially having position on the button.

Villain flipped over AKo after I folded. If I popped it to $45, SB calls and CO folds that would make it awfully hard for him to c-bet the flop if he misses it meaning if he checks I can feel pretty good about a c-bet on a Q, K or A high flop right?

Looking back I wish I reraised to put the control back in my hands but oh well. Live and learn.

Preflop is a common annoying situation at 1/2. You want to raise enough to get heads up or get everybody to fold, but you don't want to have to put in too much of your stack to do it. Getting pot committed preflop or on flop with JJ is generally bad unless effective stacks are short. Here I wouldn't want to go higher then $15-$18 because any more is risking getting pot committed. If the table and villains are such that a $17 raise is likely to get called by all 2 or 3 villains, then I would just check and set mine. This seems like a waste of a big pair, but JJ plays badly OOP and bloating the pot makes playing OOP even harder.

In any case, once you you the King on the flop there isn't much you can do here. If you had fewer villains or villains are very fit/fold then a c-bet would be OK, but against 3 I'm not normally c-betting here. The bloated pot means a flop c-bet is too much money for the marginal situation.

c/evaluate

if he is tight/passove snap fold

vs a loose maniac you ay have to call down

you playing at harrah's or parx?

this hand is pretty villain dependent, but they are never folding a K here.

i'd probably c-bet a small % of the time and check/fold the rest. it's 4 ways so obvoiusly, lot better chance you are way behind here.

I play at Parx. Villain had just sat down a few hands ago. Wasn't talkative at all and was wearing a Bluetooth. Had no read on him at this point. If I check/call the flop and don't improve on turn he would probably move all in. Definitely didn't have a read to make that play.

Any thoughts on the 2nd hand I posted? I probably could have posted it a little better to actually look like a HH my apologies.

I check the big blind here a decent amount of the time, unless im stuck. I am a winning player at 1-2 but definitely on the conservative side and Im sure I leave value on the tables with my conservative style but thats me. Often at 1-2 I know im getting called and unless Im heads up its a difficult hand to play out of position, I prefer to try to pick a better spot. A lot of time I will check and look to lead on safe flops, and there's always the option of flopping a set. But Im a nit and try hard not to put myself in tough spots at 1-2 since the play is so bad I can usually find a better spot.

On second JJ hand:

It's your first orbit, but you still should have an eye test for a read on these two villains.

I don't 3-bet JJ 100 percent of the time, especially on the button.

But I generally respect 3-bets. Unless this was some young, Beats-wearing hoodie spewer, I'd fold to the 3-bet. I agree that flatting is terrible. Shove or fold.

Are you like 60 years old? Not raising pre is terrible here. Check Fold OTF is good.

Checking bb pre with JJ or TT is losing way too much value no matter how loose villains are. Yes I'd raise to $20 max usually at the loosest tables but the thing is if multiple people are calling $20 pre then they will likely stack off ligh post too. Yin flop an overpair 43% of the time and a set 12% of the time. In a raised pot you can make a ton of money post flop in these bloated pots half the time. The other half you simply check fold if an over hits and you get 3 calls. All you lose is $18

You want to know the truth? You'll alway be a small winner at best playing nitty. JJ is hard to play OOP, yes, but it's not as hard to play as people think especially if you're at vey loose tables and people are stacking off light. Raise huge pre and stack off on most boards when you have an overpair+. Check fold overcard boards against 3+ villains. Print lots of money. Learn to play even better post flop and you'll make even more money when you raise pre with JJ