What is the best play?

[Guernica4000]

This situation troubles me and I don't know the proper way to play it.

The scenario is early in a tournament in early position with a pre-flop raise of 3 times the BB. No reads on any of the players and the chip stacks are even.

Say you hold a pair of KK and the flop is JJ5 rainbow. You are first to act against one pre-flop caller. What is the best move?

My dilemma is this: If I make a big bet player "B" will fold unless he has a J. If I make a small bet he may just smooth call with a J or he may call with over cards so I won't know what he has.

In this example there are 9 bb in the pot. What is the proper play?

[AaronBrown]

The hands you worry about that he is likely to have bet on are A A, A J, K J or J J, any of those give him better than a 90% chance of winning. You've got a 90% chance against most other hands (only 80% against A 5 and 85% against most other A hands). There are 29 ways he could have one of the good hands, and at least 100 hands that he would have bet on that favor you.

Even if he has a good hand, he may not be confident. Only 13 of his 23 good hands are clear nuts. On the other hand, he could have a bad hand that he thinks is pretty good. A K, Q Q, Q 5 might all make him mistakenly confident.

I think this puts you in the driver's seat. I wouldn't make a huge bet, that would just throw money away if he's got a Jack, and fail to make enough money if he's got A Q. But I would make him pay for the chance of drawing out on you, and I would encourage him to be cautious with his good but not perfect hands.

I don't know what the blinds are relative to the stacks, nor the exact pre-flop betting, but I think something larger than the pre-flop bet and smaller than the pot is indicated. Say 5 BB.

[Guernica4000]

Thanks Aaron