Two Plus Two Newer Archives - Final Table FT 55k 88 hand...

Some clarifications/thoughts...

Obviously I have to be worried about either one of them having a real hand. Conventional wisdom tells us that the UTG raiser is repping a big hand, and UTG+1 knows that, making the call even stronger. However, these 2 particular players had around 20 bb's (UTG could easily be stealing, and UTG+1 probably wants to get the money in with a good hand with his stack) and had both been picking spots to take down pots preflop. The UTG+1 call didn't seem particularly strong to me. He has 4 players to act behind him, and will certainly want to isolate/build a pot with a big hand. Plus he is probably giving the UTG raise more credit than usual, so should expect to be able to get some more money in pre. The OR raise was kind of small, only 3 bb's, so he has to know that once he just calls, he's inviting the rest of us (especially the blinds) to get in and speculate. It's hard for me to recall specific reads because this happened a few days ago, but I do know that neither player had been playing particularly tight. Of course, it's a 6 handed table, so we don't have to give UTG as much credit and neither does UTG+1.

I think my stack size has to play a big role in this decision. I have 150,000, there is 80,000 in the pot, and I should have a lot of fold equity. It seems like either player can only call with TT+, AK... maybe 99 and AQ but definately not AJ, and might fold the bottom end of that range. Neither player will be getting great pot odds, and both have enough chips to pass on a gamble.

Pay structure is like this:

1st $15,000
2nd $9,000
3rd $7,000
4th $5,000
5th $4,000
6th $3,000