[rockin]

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So I made it to the final table of the pokerstars 180 $20 sng with 21k in chips. There were two stacks there were noticably big around 50k; there were also two stacks around 6k. Others stacks varied in between that range. Blinds were at 800/1600 with antes. So my M is around 7ish.

I have 88 UTG I push and get called by AKs and lose on a QQ99 board. I was hoping someone with overcards called or I stole the blinds. Is this move +EV you think? It was one of the first hands of the FT so table dynamics were not established however it was probably pretty tight from what I saw.

Would a more standard raise of say 4000 be more appropriate and they lay down to an all-in? If I had less than 18k in chips I think it would be a clear push but at 21k I'm not sure.

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i think with an M of 7, this can be tricky. An argument can be made for:

pushing - your M is getting close to desperate with the blinds getting ready to smack you the very next hand. however, you are the first to act at a full table and the pay from one spot to the next at the final table is usually a significant increase, so you can pick a better spot.

limping - you have the potential to play for set value and double or event triple up and at the final table this is really huge. however, you ARE at the final table with a bunch of low M players and a lot of pushbotting occurs at the final table, so you may be forced to dump your hand or call a raise preflop.

fold - for the reasons outlined in the call paragraph above, you may be forced to have to dump a hand if you limp and you are risking a lot UTG if you push with 8 to act after you. at this stage of the tourny, blind steals can become a very effective tool for accumulating chips without you having to risk it all, so you could just fold here and wait for better opportunities.

this is a tough spot, i think limping is trouble. folding seems weak tight and pushing seems reckless. I think i fold like a little girl. Pushing is probably the right play.