How can i improve this hand?

I was playing a tourney and there's only 20% left, which means very close to the pay area. And I was playing tight, just wanna get paid first. it's about several persons to go and i got Js. I don't wanna take the risk of all in. I just wanna retain my chips so that I could get paid. everyone folded unless the guy sitting in front of me bet 3bb. so I limped in. the flop came as 7 2 3 and that guy bet 6bb. I had no choice so followed him. then 5 came. Another 6bb. have no choice again. till then more than half of my chips were in. finally it came another 2. he all-in. again i had no choice though i thought he might have a bigger pocket. And it's true. he had aces.
This is how i lost all my chips even I wanted just maintain the position. I keep thinking about it. Do I really have other choices to play it better to achieve my goal, which is getting paid.

if you feel he has a bigger pocket pair you need to re-raise on the flop to find out, if you re-raise and he re-re-raise you can usally always put them on AA KK or a set.

You didn't talk about stack sizes, but it appears you had about 25 big blinds?

Personally, I probably would have re-raised him preflop and called his all-in.
But since you called preflop, you should have raised his flop bet all-in. There's no reason to let him see additional cards when you're not going to fold the hand anyway.

Obviously, none of this would have made a difference in this particular situation because you would have gone broke anyway. That's just a cooler.

i agree u did nuthin to define ur hand and if u wanted to get paid ditch the jacks an play foldem

You valued that mediocre pocket pair to much. I agree with the poster who said you should have re-raised pre-flop to see where you're at. If he re-raises you again and it doesn't hurt your stack to much, feel free to call him just to see a flop and maybe you'll hit a set. But be aware that you need to worry about AA, KK, or AK. If you suspect he's a fairly loose inexpirienced player he may also put a lot of emphasis on a hand like AQ. If he pushes all in pre-flop get rid of them. Depending on your position raise it up and see how he reacts. If he just calls, check the turn. If he re-raises you fold. If he's a tight player you know he's got AA or KK. If he's been a loose player you've got to worry about him playing with garbage and hitting two pair


My advice, don't risk to much of your money with mediocre pocket pairs like QQ, JJ, 1010.

just 3bet preflop and fold to his shove...

+1

Also how many is 'several persons'?

When the opponent goes to 6bb, why not fold ........ if your objective is to protect your stack and position????

what i dont like is that you just called on the flop. i would suggest a raise to see what happens. you have to find out where you are in the hand. cuz he could have a wide range of hands from teh way the betting went down. so it was hard to really judge the strength of your own hand. next time put in a raise and it will let you know what you need to know generally speaking. gl and play on.

I have had the same thing happen to me. With the chip lead I can coast but something like JJ comes along and I feel like I have to play the hand. Before you know it most of my stack is in the pot and I wind up on the short end of it. So I'm going to take more time with my decisions and maybe stay out of raised pots when my goal is to make the bubble, especially if I have a lot of chips.

PJ's could be a nasty hand, i know i was in this position, i raised pre flop; flop came 2 over cards and and 2, i folded when opp raised. you didn't mention any suits i'm assuming rainbow? if you wanted to be itm, you probably should play it safer, it has happened to me to get soo close and the time invested- it almost makes you sick. i've folded premium hands when the raising was out of control, it's better but hard till you know you have a monster, and it's not going to effect your image many have played it save towards the end and freeze up. when i've praticed the patience and control of my moves, that is the only time (towards the end) that i've come itm.
beter luck next time.

been there on the other end and saw the JJ hit to beat me....its all around the hardest call to decide.