Okay, I don't currently have the hand history easily accesible, but I'm only gonna give part of the hand anyway. On the whole, I think I wanked up the hand pretty severely, but I'd like some thoughts before I divulge the rest.

You're in the SB with JJ, and you haven't even been at the table for one orbit yet. Folds to a play in MP who limps, then the CO raises and the button folds. Do you call or 3-bet here? I chose to flat-call, which I think is mistake #1.

The flop comes up -[7s]-[5h]. Do you lead out or try to check-raise? Since I decided to flat-call preflop, I think check-raising is a better option here, especially considering my position on the pre-flop raiser. So, I checked. The BB then leads out, MP calls, and the CO raises. It's back to you for two bets; do you call, raise, or fold?

-TW

I don't mind the preflop flat call too much but I am leaning towards 3 betting. The raise by the CO either means 99, TT, a higher pocket pair or a suited strong ace IMO. He might be overplaying AKo but I don't think so. Without a read, I think I just fold here and look for a better opportunity. Out of position with no reads, I play it conservative. Call me Mr. Weak Tight.

To give you a read, you can try datamining your tables for 30-60 min before you sit down so you hopefully have up to 60 hands on each person.

Yeah, 3-bet that hand preflop and BB folds for sure, and MP probably goes away too. Then, your heads up with an overpair on the flop and your hand is much stronger. JJ does not play well at all in a multi-way pot.

I think you almost have to 3-bet pre-flop. Some players like those position raises (no names, ahem), and when a group of limpers come limping, the button or CO will raise with a marginal hand (offsuit paint, big offsuit Broadway, etc.), to chase the junk away, or get the fish to call the inflated price.

I thought I invented that play.

I wouldn't have put him on an overpair. 3-betting would show you where you are. If he re-raises you (even LP maniacs are sensible sometimes), you should re-evaluate.

And anyway, some people claim that 72o is the worst hand in poker? I say NAY! JJ sucks. So many crappy players at lower limits play hands like KQo, or K8o, or QTo that if an overcards to your JJ comes on the flop, you're likely already beaten, especially if the pot is multi-way.

What does Miller say? "Do not play timidly with these cards [QQ, JJ, TT] before the flop simply because an overcard can beat you." The difference between JJ and 88 is that we're all sensible enough to toss 88 away when it misses the flop. So many more of us hold on to JJ like a security blanket even when we know we've been beaten.