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'?

I'll take your advice. It's very helpful. Thank you.

It's really hard when you hold JJ

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