I've been thinking about a specific situation I find myself in sometimes (this mainly applies to the early stages of tournaments or any deep stack situation like a cash game) where there are 3 or more limpers in the pot and I have a fairly strong hand like 99 or AJs in the SB.  Limping feels too weak to me given the strength of my hand, but is counter-balanced by my terrible position if we get post-flop.  Raising presents its own problems since everyone is deep stacked, and raising small (4x, given the number of limpers) would just get everyone to call, and raising big (6x or more) would build a large pot when I'm out of position (not to mention the cascade of calling that would happen if 1 or 2 people make the call).

Plus, what would my plan be if I make an 8x raise, get one or two callers when I hold AJs and the flop comes 8 high rainbow, or if I have 99 and the flop is AT4?  If I c-bet, get called and miss the turn, I'm now in a situation where I've invested 16-20 BBs with either A high or mid pair and out of position.  Of course, further action could be highly influenced by player reads, but most of the time this is early in a tournament and reads are minimal.

Most of the time I find myself just limping in the SB and hoping to hit something strong and somehow win a large pot out of a small one.  I'm just curious what other people's actions are in this situation and how they proceed with the rest of the hand. What if I increase the strength of the hands to TT and AQ suited or offsuit?  I think the situation still applies, but what do you think? (Obviously increasing the strength to JJ and AK makes for a much easier decision, but marginal situations are where tournaments are won and lost).

What if we're in the BB?