Decent points above.

If you have $17 and he has $17 and you are out of position, the flop is the point in the hand you want to take down the pot. Do you particularly want to play a big pot here?

If the answer is no, bet $3 (leaving you $13) and fold to a raise.
If the answer is yes, then bet $2, call raise and bomb any turn.

Your flop bet is 44% of the pot. I would interpret this as weakness if I were villain. With all that aside, put $8 back in your stack so you can avoid being easily committed in situations similar to this.