This situation came up last night in a nine-handed tournament. This was the first hand of the game. Starting stacks were $155, blinds at $1/$2. The table is made up of 4 tight aggressive players, three extremely loose aggressive players, and two loose sometime-passive sometime aggressive players. The blinds go up whenever someone gets knocked out, lending to some very erratic early play from the maniacs. the tournament pays top two spots.

So, first hand. I have J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 10 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] in the small blind.

A Lag raises to $10 under the gun (he is also quite intoxicated and habitually raises the first hand of any tournament)

2 Lags, a loose passive and a tight aggressive call the raise

I call from small blind, thinking with so many people out there I should at least see a flop with my potential straight.

The Flop comes Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
I now have JJ, an up or down straight draw, and a back-door flush draw
I bet $20 into a $62 pot, thinking someone may have a Q, but knowing that the maniacs would play a Q7 pre-flop if it were suited

The Lag in 1st position goes all-in, and everyone else calls the all-in

I am now faced with a pot laying me 4:1 odds, but even though strict odds dictate a fold (I think) I know that whoever wins the hand will be an enormous chip leader at the table with at least 4:1 in chips over everyone else at the table (5:1 if I call). Also, because of the blind structure, the blinds will go up one level for each person knocked out on the hand. So the end result will be a huge chip leader and blinds that jump immediately to 10/20 (or 20/40 if I call).

Even though I know it is risky, I decide to call because I wouldn't have much time to wait for a decent hand if one of the maniacs got their hands on all those chips so early.

The initial all-in had 4 to the flush, the three loose callers had 88, one had a J little suited and one had a Q little suited, the tight aggressive player had KQ os, so he had flopped a straight.

A 5th club came down on the river, knocking out everyone. And this player coasted to victory by waiting for decent hands and going all-in whenever he entered a pot. With 20/40 blinds, the remaining players at a short-handed table pretty much got blinded away.

I know from a strict by-the-book approach it was a loose call, but was I right to tke all the other factors into consideration and push my chips in?