Ethical question

[Wongboy]

I think that the following is clearly chip dumping, but I am curious about whether this would be ethical and also whether it would be against the T&Cs of most large online sites:

STT - 4 players remaining, top 3 pay
Seat 1 - 11,500 chips
Seat 2 - 155 chips
Seat 3 - 900 chips
Seat 4 - 945 chips

Seat 2 is disconnected. Seat 1 has been raising every hand for the last 4 orbits and seats 3 and 4 have shown no desire to play back. They are clearly just hoping to squeek into the money.

Situation - Seat 1 is in the SB for 150 chips. Seat 2 is in the BB and is all-in for his last 155 chips. It is folded to Seat 1. Seat 1 folds instead of calling for an additional 5 chips. Seat 1 then continues raising every hand - Ethical?

Hypothetically, lets say that Seats 1 and 2 are friends. Does this change the answer?

[qwnu]

With no agreement or communication between players, I think Seat 1 can do whatever he wants. He probably read somewhere that it can be advantageous for the chip leader to keep the bubble alive so he can continue stealing blinds, and thinks this is a good opportunity to put his book-learnin' to use.

[OneTwoThreeROBOT]

Ethical. Yes.
Genius... yes.

[Skipbidder]

[ QUOTE ]
Ethical. Yes.
Genius... yes.

[/ QUOTE ]

I opened up OP's post expecting to give an answer like "Of course this is unethical." I'm pleased to see that not only was it something I didn't consider to be unethical, but that it was something I considered to be a pretty good play to boot.

[ryanghall]

[ QUOTE ]
Ethical. Yes.
Common Sense... yes.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP

[Wongboy]

Thanks for all the answers. This was my thought as well. I just wanted to see if there was anyone who felt this might be unethical.