JC - You've touched on a subject that I fight with constantly. Especially with JJ which, along with TT, are the 2 hands that I absolutely hate the most.

I went through a spell where I would get my JJ (and TT) busted no matter what I did preflop to try to limit the field. After that I even went so far as to limp in with both of those hands for a while until I regained my composure for those 2 hands. Now, the way I usually play both of them id to raise the pot pretty much as I would if I had KK or AA. Typically 4-8x the BB. Of course, like everything else, it is a matter of the action before I act and the table type.

However, hands like TT, JJ and even QQ to some extent are simply to vulnerable to an unfavorable flop to not try to get the field down to at most 2 callers. You have to raise the junk out of the hand preflop with these 3 hands.

Now as for KK and AA, I like to mix things up. I will typically raise 4-8x the BB but given the correct table and circumstances I am not averse to limping in with these hands once in a great while and seeing what might happen. Yes, I've been burned doing this. But I've also had a couple very nice pots doing this as well. I think that KK and AA are strong enough on their own to attempt this every once in a while.

That being said though, I will still raise the pot preflop 4-8x the BB 90% - 95% of the time as opposed to trying to be deceptive and limp.

Did I mention that i hate TT and JJ?