Hi everyone. Kinda new to NL and hoping for some advice on how to play this hand.

Effective 300. Hero gets 99 OTB.

EP, HJ and CO limp, I raise to 12. SB calls, BB folds and rest call.

KQ6r. Checks to hero and I bet 16, only EP calls. Heads up
KQ6 9. Check to me and I bet 25, EP calls
KQ69 J. I check behind.

Thoughts on all streets please and thank you.

Pre you can follow the standard open of 3BB + 1BB per limper + 1BB if OOP to limper(s). So in this case I would've raised 3BB + 3BB + 0BB (IP on limpers) = $18. At a loose table I probably make it $20 or even $25 depending on my perception of their limp ranges.

When you make it 4BB here you're going to get called by all three limpers, which is not a great result with 99 which is a hand that will want to get to showdown quickly and cheaply on a lot of boards.

Flop is never a bet 5 ways. Fortunate here to only get called by one other player. Usually, at least one opponent as top pair + and we're drawing to two outs.

Your bet sizes are too small on the flop and turn. You're betting 25% pot into 4 players on the flop and 30% pot on the turn. You hit a miracle out and your opponent probably has Kx a bunch here, so size way up and get the value you've lucked into.

River X is okay, hard to V to call without a ten

Preflop: Raise size is tiny, basically a pot sweetener. It's not a bad exploit against overly passive LLSNL fields, don't get me wrong, but I think our hand is premium enough to try to isolate with a large sizing, and we don't mind taking it down preflop either. Let's raise it up to $25.

Flop: Not sure we're ever taking this pot down against 4 opponents, really dislike the Cbet.

Turn: Go big! Pot is $95 minus rake, a $25 bet is an absolute pittance and reduces our eventual river bet sizing. With $95 in the pot and $270 in effective stacks behind, we should be trying to bet a huge chunk, if not all our stack over the next 2 streets. Bet $60 at the very least, and I would prefer $75+.

River: I like a small bet like $30-35 again. We could be beat, but villain could have backed into a 2pr and may make a crying call OTR with some 1pr hands as well.

Thank you for the advice so far. Appreciate the thought process.

Just a question: isn’t it extremely weak if I were the preflop raiser and check behind this flop??? I think that as the preflop raiser, I should be cbetting most of my hands to find out where I am.

Yes, by checking you are capping your range as AA KK QQ AK KQ are all value bets on this flop.
The problem is that as the number of players who see the flop increases, the probability that someone connects with the board increases. 5 ways, we almost never have the best hand here, and even if we did there are very few hands we are ahead of that would call our bet (besides precisely JT, perhaps AJ AT from a looser player).

So, by choosing to bet 99 into 4 opponents, we are turning our hand into a bluff. The problem is 99 is a terrible hand to bluff with here; when you choose bluffs, you want to have a combination of good blockers and equity when called. Not that I'd advocate for betting AJ here, but if you did, you would have 4 outs to the nut straight (T), an overcard to the board (A), and blockers to AK AQ KJ QJ, making it less likely the opponents have those hands.

Compare that to 99, which when called has only 2 meager outs to improve, and unblocks the four strong pair hands I listed above, making it slightly more likely someone has those hands. Thus, the best option for us on the flop is simply to check, hope to improve on the turn or check it down and win the pot some % of the time with our pair.

You are cbetting for the wrong reason.

When betting, you should be asking yourself a couple questions:
1) Can I get a better hand to fold?
Answer: Probably not.

2) Can I get a worse hand to call.
Answer: There are 3 other players in the hand, so you probably won't get a worse hand to call.

This means you shouldn't be cbetting this flop.

Hands that call your cbet here will probably have a K, a Q, trip 6s, OESD, or an over with a gutshot.

Our 9s aren't doing too well against all that.

I probably lean to an overlimp but I'm passive like that. Don't hate a raise, although I think all other sizing might be better (either super small to simply juice for cheap for when we hit versus super big to actually thin the field); not really sure of what our sizing accomplishes.

I'm done with the hand on the flop and check behind.

Next time include pot size on each street so we know what your sizing is. Was gonna say that we're not even incredibly fond of hitting a 9 on the turn (due to the obvious and most common OESD), but HU I'm still going for value. I don't mind going on the small side so I can afford to call a poorly sized raise, but I'd probably go slightly bigger.

River is a clear value bet and even moreso since our small postflop sizing has put us in a nice spot where commitment isn't a problem (pot is $130 and we still have about $250 left) and we can still likely fold to a check/raise. A bunch of worse hands (lots two pairs on this runout) can pay us off. I'd go like $75 or so. ETA: Ooops, I missed that there was 4-to-a-straight. Still, with the hand being checked to us against ABC face-up non-bluffy players I would probably still try to eke out value but go very small, maybe like $30 - $40 just trying to get paid off. Against more tricky non-ABC players we could maybe consider checking back more.

GcluelessNLnoobG