Fine, what about 97s then? (I think it's a leak to 100% never limp A7s on the button in any circumstances, by the way.)

I rarely limp weak Aces, suited or not. It does happen in the right situation, but if I'm going to play A7s OTB, I usually raise or fold. I have lost and seen so many people lose money with weak Aces it's amazing. Tough to get paid when you hit your flush, too, especially in a limped pot. I prefer 97 or 57, although I will raise with them sometimes, too, obviously.

If I did have A7 or 97, I'd probably call on the flop hoping to hit trips or two pair (non-club) just because it's so cheap and there is so much money in the pot. There are times I would just fold them on this board. I would not raise 97, and I doubt I'd raise A7 -- that's why I prefer not to limp that hand. You hit top pair / top kicker and you are behind 45 and 57 (not to mention 68, 44, 55 and 77), which love to limp.

Just 2 cents from my experience with low limit tables like this:
You can't Force these players to do anything because they generally aren't thinking players like 2+2'ers are. so you will make most of your money playing straightforward and letting others make mistakes. I think this is a great example. I like limping on the button here because you are not investing much into a big SPR.

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but I am at work so I skimmed most of the posts but,
the $4 sweetener is added bonus because it gives us some information. I don't know of any 1/2 player that likes to see a flop 5 ways with AA BUT I know plenty of those same players that like to limp with AA and KK hoping to reraise pre. especially at a Loose passive table where they think they will get too many callers if they open, but can get "respect" if they limp raise.
So, you can take big pocket pairs out of peoples' ranges. doesn't tell you everything but just in case you are hoping to cooler a big PP once you hit the flop like this with 2 pair.

as far the action on the flop, it screams of draws. Again, these players like to protect their hands. so any of the "middle" players (V2-V4) will likely bomb it with a flopped straight or set. I know it was mentioned that one of the players slooooooow played a set to the river but there was no mention of board texture on the hand that he did that. and these guys aren't balancing ranges or anything he might have just decided to slow play because he felt like it. remember, one read does not indicate a strong habit. on this board with straight draws and flush draws, a big hand like a flopped straight is likely to raise and protect his hand from the flush draw on the flop.
also (I would love to hear an opinion about this read) a player that just calls with a set here is probably slow playing because he is scared of the straight or draws, soooooo you probably do have some fold equity against a set here if he slow plays and lets it get to you unraised on the flop.

After all that, I will say it again: your profit will likely come from mistakes at low limit. bigger mistakes = bigger profit. So I think an even bigger raise here is fine. consider making it $100 and I would not be surprised if you would get the same call from 23 on the flop.

I took a long break from poker but I have been playing very frequently in the northeast at low limit. so I would love to hear what others have to say about my opinions here....

So basically it sounds like you are claiming that the reason you don't want to raise with top pair is because you might be value owning yourself against better made hands.

By that logic, shouldn't you also be folding (or calling) with bottom 2? And where's the cutoff? I don't know for certain where it is, but my point in this thread is that there's a case to be made that the cutoff is stronger than top 2 on this kind of board. I'm not saying I feel strongly one way or the other--just that there are 2 valid options that are closer than people think that should be considered.

Here are some reasons I rarely find myself in those spots:

1. I only play hands like 75s in position or in the bb.

2. When I do play it in position I'm often raising which makes that a very different situation than the one in this thread.

3. Even if I limp in a multiway pot, I'm usually folding on the flop because I will miss with hands like this a lot.

4. If I make a big hand, often nobody else does which makes the situation very different.