A Step 5 fold must people will hate

[John Hurst]

I am properly bankrolled to take shots at step 5's if the lineup is right. I direct bought into this one. I am not bankrolled to play several a day. I was not trying to just survive, take 4th and win $1200. If I were faced with the same situation again it would be a tough decision, and thanks to some of the posts I see even more reasons to call.

[ZeeJustin]

This isnt even remotely close. You have to call here. You have him dominated a huge percent of the time, and are very rarely in bad shape. With two stacks having less than 3 big blinds, its ludicrous to think that you can sacrifice an edge that big on this hand and make it up via stealing until the bubble is over. The players in the step 5s are generally not donkeys (although your post proves there are some), so you cant just push them around like you may think.

[AtticusFinch]

I'd fold it because just making the money in a step 5 would be awesome for my bankroll. If you really are playing to win, it's tougher.

ICM clearly dictates a call. ICM is a great beginning to analyzing this, but it is not the end. It does not take into account stealing opportunities, blind sizes, your skill, reads, etc.

If you have solid reads on your opponents and feel your forward expectation is higher by holding on to your folding equity and stealing, then folding may still be a wise decision for you, even if you're playing for first.

(Reading over this I probably shouldn't even post it as it adds little to what's already been said. Oh well, with all the votes for one or the other, I'll add my vote for being non-committal)

[GauchoFish]

if you say your intent is to win, you dont think that now becoming a dominant chip lead 4 handed puts you in a good position to do that, with a hand you A: are 30% to be a coin flip w/ or B: are 70% to have dominated or severly crippled.

i don't necessarily think its a bad fold, but i think your reasoning for it makes no sense. If you grinded your way to this step 5 and simply wanted the $1200 so you could say you had a 100-1 ROI then fine, muck it. If you say you want to win, and those are the odds you give for what he had...you should have called, clearly.

WD