villian 1: older gentleman, has beaten hero every time and each time had the goods, stack $3000, in the BB, have seen him raise pre (but not from blinds) with ds hands with one ace etc

villian 2: weaker player, recently lost his stack and just rebought $1000 EP

hero: recently won a decent pot, image should be fairly tight... stack $3700, mid position

pre: villian 2 limps in EP, hero calls with QQ97, 2 other callers i think, villian 1 in the BB makes it $30, villian 2 calls, I call, others fold

flop: (let's say $105) KQ4, 2 diamonds, hero has mid set but no draws... villian 1 checks, villian 2 bets $80... hero?

thought process/reads: i figured v1 to have AAxy or KKxy when he raised in the BB... when he checked the flop, i became very worried that this would be a set over set situation... so, after v2 bets $80, i decided to flat and see what v1 would do... is this terrible??

Putting someone an AA/KK just because they open a pot is a super tight read. Then he checks into 2 people on a very draw heavy board, which further reduces the chance he has those hands. If you're in a set over set situation right now its with v2.

A call is conservative, but fine here with no redraws. You can see a cheap turn and put in a raise on a safe card.

Up until this point in the hand v1 seems to not matter at all? He raised pre and checked the flop.

If villain 1 has AAxx+ he is definitely going to be betting this flop, checking out of position to potentially let bad cards roll off on a coordinated board in a multiway pot just sounds like a poor idea. In that light V2 should rarely have you beat here although it's not uncommon to see players limp/ call some of the weaker KKxx+ combos from EP, but these hands still make up a relatively small part of villains range, he's more likely to have a variety of semi bluffs here than value given our Q blockers so raising for value is probably best here given how many players are in the pot.you could consider flatting if you were IP this hand and GII on brick turns

Calling totally standard

I definitely call.

why do you think v2 has a higher chance of having KK? he limped called pre? I would think he would come in for a raise pre with that?

my thought process was that he would bet with AAxy on that flop... but check and look to raise with KKxy. So when he checked, I decided to keep the pot small...

i was in position in this hand and my intention was to raise the turn assuming a good turn card...

ok, so I think based on responses that calling here is totally fine given that i have no redraws...

so I called $80 from V2 on the flop and it goes back to the BB V1. V1 pots... V2 calls... hero?

Fold!

i raise fold to v1 raise gii vs v2. given action i just fold. doubt he takes this line w/ like anything but kk or like ajtdd... aadd prob bets flop but your too deep anyways and have reverse implied odds unless he goes crazy

Raise flop

I don't. I think if there is a set over set situation we're on the good side of it and v2 has more 44than kk. My comment was pointing out how silly it is to be worried about v1 when v2 is the one that just lead.

call and gii with villain 2 on good turns.

villain 2 just lost a big stack, could be limping with speculative hands, betting this flop b/c the pfr checked.

villain 2's range could be much wider in this spot.

this. with the weak player only showing strength, V1 can easily put you on something like JJTx, where you have a weak open ender and he can repot and get it heads up with the piece of cheese that V2 is likely to have.

V1 could easily have AAKK here, but without raising the flop, you are setting yourself up to get blasted off the hand.

as played, fold.

This is a fairly standard just call on the flop

just call, don't see much value in raising. SPR massive, you're in position, and you have no draws. You'll be able to see if v1 pots it after you call, in which case weigh in more KK in his range and proceed cautiously. If v1 doesn't pot and turn is a brick, go nuts?