$20+$2 Limit Tourney on UB

[ripdog]

Only one hand really bothering me here. Down to the final table and still 10-handed. I've been folding a lot and stealing the blinds enough to keep my head above water. I'm sitting in 7th place, about T-1000 ahead of places 8-10. I get AJo, folded to me I raise (blinds are 300/600) and the very reasonable player directly behind me raises to 1800. I think for a while and fold. At that point I still had T3200 safely in my stack. I busted out 7th for ~$50 in profit. Should I have called?

[JARID]

You did not describe the raiser so I will assume that he was not overly aggressive or overly tight.
My gut tells me you are probably behind at this point. Couple that with the fact that AJ is a big trap hand and I admire your willingness to lay it down. However, the pot is laying you 6.5-1 to call this raise. Your two bets, his three, the bb and sb. So while you are behind, you are not that far behind. With $3,200 safely tucked away, I would call and play it from there.
Couple of other things to think about. He might have noticed your propensity to steal and might be reading you for weaker than AJ. Also, you fold here and I have to believe it will be more difficult to steal in the future. Curious to see what others think.
~J~

[ripdog]

[ QUOTE ]
You did not describe the raiser so I will assume that he was not overly aggressive or overly tight.
My gut tells me you are probably behind at this point. Couple that with the fact that AJ is a big trap hand and I admire your willingness to lay it down. However, the pot is laying you 6.5-1 to call this raise. Your two bets, his three, the bb and sb. So while you are behind, you are not that far behind. With $3,200 safely tucked away, I would call and play it from there.
Couple of other things to think about. He might have noticed your propensity to steal and might be reading you for weaker than AJ. Also, you fold here and I have to believe it will be more difficult to steal in the future. Curious to see what others think.
~J~

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for your reply--it is right on track with my thinking. I thought for a long time before folding. I was even with this guy and he had been playing well. Calling the extra 600 would have dropped me down to T2600. I put him one one of two hands here--a medium pocket pair or a bigger Ace than mine. I felt that no matter what flopped, I wouldn't be able to play it strongly, unless I hit the unlikely miracle flop. Still, the pot odds scream out for me to call here, don't they? I felt some remorse as the T3000 went into his stack. I did not get my fair share of good hands in this tourney and my image was extremely tight.
The only times that my raises were getting called was by some desperate little stack, and in both of those I showed KK. So I had to put this guy on a legitimate hand, but should I have foregone the pot odds here? I'm still torn.

[JARID]

I have to believe this is why too many players call when they should fold, they can't handle the "what if" factor. If you think your particular opponent is capable of making it three with a medium pair, then you have to call. Don't dwell on it though.

Regards,
~J