pocket eights -- play or fold?

[M.B.E.]

Two-table $215 NLHE SNG. Down to six players (top four get paid). I'm in second place with 2345; blinds are 50/100.

The chip leader (with over 4500) minraises UTG to 200. He's been playing a lot of hands, usually raising 3xBB but occasionally 2x. Next player (with 1200) calls. The cutoff folds, and the button raises all-in; his stack is only 830. The small blind folds, and I'm in the big blind with 88.

What's my play? To summarize, the current pot size is 1380 and it's 730 for me to call, with two players behind me.

[CrisBrown]

Hiya M.B.E.,

Much as I'd hate to, I think I'd lay 88 down here. You wouldn't want to reraise here, as I'd be very afraid of an all-in from the chip leader, or the first caller, who most likely does have some kind of hand. If you just call, you're still monkey-in-the-middle between a min-raiser, caller, and short-stack all-in raise. You're only 1:8 to hit a set, and short-stacked enough that you'd rather be able to pick your battles than have them picked for you.

So ... I'd muck and wait for a better opportunity.

Cris

[N4CER1]

Hi I would lay it down....You will only flop a set @ 14% of the time so the flop will 86% of the time miss you.....I would save my money for another hand....

[M.B.E.]

I folded the 88, which I think was correct for the reasons stated by CrisBrown and N4CER1. The original raiser (chip leader) also folded, but the other guy called and showed AJo. The one who moved in had K5s. The board came A-9-7-K-5 so the all-in player won. But didn't he play terribly? I can understand raising allin with K5 if first to enter the pot, but the chip leader had already raised, and there was a caller! Did the guy think K5s was the best hand? Did he think that the other four players would all fold for just 630 more chips?

Also, the guy with AJ played bad too, cold-calling the minraise from the chip leader. That play might be okay if the money is very deep, because then you could win a lot if you hit two-pair or better. But the money has to be very deep for a call with AJo to be correct. Here, the guy had 1200 in his stack and called 200 of it. He ought to either fold or reraise all-in (probably fold, considering it was close to the money).

The player who called with AJ was now very shortstacked, and busted out soon after. I eventually busted out of the SNG fifth, on the bubble.