[AndyatSD]

Boring hands are still sometimes interesting to analyze because you can see that there's still a lot of information in any 'ol 'boring' hand. I actually think there's an important part of this hand that's missing: how many handed was it? UTG in a 9 handed game versus UTG in a 6 handed game is quite different. If 9-10 players were present, then the UTG raise typically signifies a much stronger hand and I think emerson's post already summarized this situation. If the game was getting relatively short - then the range of UTG opens up a great deal more and although I wouldn't change my decision, the thought process behind wouldn't be as clear-cut as it first appeared. How tight is the player? Knowing this would define the range a lot more and allow us to think more accurately on what we should do.

But anyway call. If he has it, he has it. Like the other posters said you beat way too many hands here to fold.

On the other hand, if I knew who UTG was and if this wasn't a 9-10 handed game (re: it's a short game), I would actually be able to sometimes say fairly confidently in this case you lost to 55 or 67s or something whacky like that because although there are other likely hands that villian could have - most of them would bet out river or continue to check-call the river.

Any legit strong hand would have gotten aggressive with you on the flop or turn because no one is going anywhere with a 3 bet hand on a J98 board (AK would peel one, AQ has gutshot & sorta two overs, AJ hit, AA KK QQ self explanatory, JJ monster, TT good flop, 99 88 monster, 77 kind of meh but people typically don't even 3 bet UTG live with hands like 77 or KQ). By your description, UTG knows that.

So he's either peeling and/or determined to call down. If he's peeling - the 5 didn't help and it's an easy call for you (whereas 3 betting isn't as good of an option). If he slow played a monster I don't think he's a very good player and we were given wrong info to begin with. If he's been calling along with a pair like A8s, A9s, or did a loose raise with low pocket pair or medium suited connectors - I think the more likely move for him would NOT have been this particular line. With that said, I think the river check-raise signifies real strength here. Call and pay off.

~andy