Level 1 of SNG, great pot odds, weak hand.

[Poker Clif]

How good do pot odds have to be before you'll play almost anything? Her's the situation: 2-table SNG, $1+.20,no reads, table full of calling stations, 7 or more going to almost every flop(9-person table).

I had the following 2 hands back to back.

1. 96o, I had 7:1 odds to enter the pot. I folded.

2. 44, I called the big blind, one raiser, it was 1 more bb to me with 5:1 pot odds. I called again.

Flop was A95 rainbow. Bunch of callers, I folded to the overcards with 5:1 odds.

Clearly, though the pot odds were better with hand #1, the pocket pair in #2 had much better implied odds, even with 3 overcards.

I'm not sure how to think about weak hands in a game like this, where almost everyone calls and slmost no one raises (but when they do, small raises get a lot of callers).

Any general comments, or comments on the way I handled either hand, would be appreciated.