This is a hand that came up this morning and I thought it was interesting.

Assuming MP is a fish because of open limp
hard to judge LP because I don't play format enough to know if he is a reg and over limping here is sometimes okay

PokerStars - $2.28+$0.22|10/20 Ante 3 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

LP: 1,474.00
CO: 1,484.00
BTN: 1,464.00
Hero (SB): 1,619.00
BB: 1,494.00
UTG: 1,494.00
UTG+1: 1,494.00
MP: 1,483.00
MP+1: 1,494.00

LP posts ante 3.00, CO posts ante 3.00, BTN posts ante 3.00, Hero posts ante 3.00, BB posts ante 3.00, UTG posts ante 3.00, UTG+1 posts ante 3.00, MP posts ante 3.00, MP+1 posts ante 3.00, Hero posts SB 10.00, BB posts BB 20.00

Pre Flop: (57.00) Hero has J Q

fold, fold, MP calls 20.00, fold, LP calls 20.00, fold, fold, Hero calls 10.00, BB checks

Flop: (107.00, 4 players) 2 5 Q
Hero bets 70.00, fold, MP calls 70.00, LP calls 70.00

Turn: (317.00, 3 players) K
Hero?

I'd bet again.

I don't see they have a lot of Kx in their range (if they limped K5o preflop then hard luck). They shouldn't have AQ/AK/KQ. So you are probably ahead even though the two calls and the K seem like signals to slow down. You can get value from random Qx (maybe even 5x) and weaker draws which will otherwise take the free card. I'd check/evaluate (probably call) river though if the flush doesn't come.

betting.

Bet. If you are not in front right now, you have a lot of equity.
He probably have something like 56 or whatever. Not easy to put a range on people like that.

Interesting, are we bet folding then?

The two hands come to mind are KXcc and KQ both i think are likely to reraise us here and have us dominated

Bet, re-evaluate OTR

If we lose one bet like that and fold the second-best hand then it is better than check-calling two streets with the second-best hand (though it would be nice to see if we hit our probable 9 outs). Do they have a lot they will raise as a bluff though?

As played I bet again.

I don't think flop is a mandatory lead though - looks like it would play very well as a x/c too. Thoughts?

^^
I agree.
c/r on flop is not a bad option either.

I don't think c/r is a great option in a limped pot

Everytime i play these 2.5s im surprised what kind of junk people limps or in general plays. 34 i not out the question, and a lot of players in the pool will stackoff with that hand on this board.

Im not saying c/r is the best option by any means.

I've never really heard that before (assuming you mean it as general rule of thumb). Could you go into more detail about why you say that?

A check raise relies on knowing we will get a bet out of one of our opponents, in a limped pot it just gets checked thru too often.

c/r is best done against opponents who we think cbet too much, or will float or play back light. Seeing as we know very little about our opponents i don't think it's a good idea.

on the other side of the coin leading is good against players who are weak/timid and can call us light. given pf action I think it is likely our opponents fall in this category

^ Sounds logical, thanks.

The thing is you can't really put villain on a range. Limp from MP can be any two. On this level you will find some good regs among the fish and some of them play a lot of hands in unraised pots and looks for two pairs or better to stack off ppl unable to get away from top pair. I know the general advise is to be tight in the opening rounds but in my opinion its perfectly fine to limp a lot of implied odds hands early if you know the chances of beeing 3-bet out of the pot is slim. This will obv not work on higher levels, but here chances of doubling up is better.

Its perfectly possible he has Kx, or 25 or 34 or 67c or Qx or whatever. As played I would check turn and check/call river unless my hand improved. The idea of this passive line is to keep the pot smallest possible until we can beat the top pair hands that will stack off on river. If i was going to be the aggressor in this kind of pot on this level, i would cr flop and bet turn.

Disclaimer: I had a good grip on the low 180's years ago. From what ive seen the last weeks its a lot more (winning) regs, but still plenty of ppl to double up on early.

this was my thinking going into the hand but I've come to the conclusion that's not the best way to play it.

The way it played out:
I checked turn, LP bet 160, call call
a club hits the turn, it checks around
MP tables KK LP has KJ

i dont mind leading again and i would certainly be calling a raise that isnt enormous. Also i dont mind check/calling flop either as aliquantum said