$5.50 NL HE MTT: AJ | First hand

Event no. 2 of the New Year Series, this one is tricky.... since this is the first hand of the tournament what would you do here in this situation? No info on the players.

pokerstars, $4.90 + $0.60 - Hold'em No Limit - 100/200 (25 ante) - 8 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: 25,000 (125 bb)
UTG+1 (Hero): 25,000 (125 bb)
MP: 25,000 (125 bb)
MP+1: 25,000 (125 bb)
CO: 25,000 (125 bb)
BU: 25,000 (125 bb)
SB: 25,000 (125 bb)
BB: 25,000 (125 bb)

Pre-Flop: (500) Hero is UTG+1 with J♥ A♥
1 fold, Hero raises to 500, 4 players fold, SB calls 400, BB calls 300

Flop: (1,700) 5♣ K♥ J♠ (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets 578, SB calls 578, BB calls 578

Turn: (3,434) A♣ (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets 1,751, SB folds, BB raises to 6,053, Hero calls 4,302

River: (15,540) 7♣ (2 players)
BB bets 17,844 (all-in), ?


First do you bet the turn or just check behind? What you do on the river here?

Also is the c-bet to small on that flop?

Preflop
Standard open.

Flop
I dont think, its terrible to make a small C-bet. But your hand is not strong enough to get 3 streets of value, and there are literally no turn cards, that are bad for you. So your hand dont need any protection, and you also have some decent backdoor draws yourself. And for those reasons I really like to check back and look to play the later streets.

Turn
Now your hand is definitely good enough for 3 streets of value, so yes for sure I would bet for value. Maybe you can go a pinch larger, but half pot is not terrible. When you get raised, the hand, that comes to mind, is of course QT, that just made a straight. But he could also be raising a worse two pair like A5, and some players might also raise pair + flushdraw type hands like JT of clubs. So I think, you have a clear call here, but I would not come back over the top with a 3-bet.

River
Now the backdoor flush got there, and at this point I think, we can pretty much rule out, that any hand worse than yours is still overbet jamming for value. So you have a bluff catcher, and when all the draws got there, most players have very few if any bluffs. So without reads I fold here and live to fight another day.

I would check the flop, turn and then fold the river. With the way I have been running recently I am up against AK and KJs.

I also like a check on the flop here. Early stages there are so many players that will have a K in their flatting range.
Turn makes your hand a value one so making a bet is good but am also wary of QT.
River, I think you have to lay it down. About only value hand that opponent may be shoving here is KJ or an A5