Around 36 left in the event (27 pay), redrew at 36, first time I’ve played with Barry in this event. I’d played with him for less than 20 minutes total prior to this when he was very short stacked, so I don’t have any first-hand experience about his game.

Those who know his game better, please try discussing the hand both from my perspective and from the perspective of someone who knows his game as well as you. I’m fairly sure Barry has no idea who I am at the table here.

We’ve been at this table a little while, I lost a few hands early. One where I raised from EP, c-bet the flop, and c/folded the turn. Another where I raised from LP, checked down the flop and turn, and called a small river bet and lost to 2nd pair. Barry’s open-raised a few times, but hasn’t played any hands postflop IIRC.

Blinds: 600/1200/100. I have 40K, Barry starts the hand with 30-31K. Barry opens on the button to 3300 (which has been his standard opening raise at this level), I look down at 88 in the BB. I ask Barry how much he has behind, he looks and says 26, I say I think it’s 27, he says he thinks it’s 26. I think this is a tough decision preflop.

Shoving is an option, I would assume Barry’s opening wide enough for it to be profitable, but 25 BBs effective is really on the outer bounds of what I like shove over an open. And I’m down below 10 BBs if I shove and lose the hand.

Against a non-pro I’d shove all day long here near the bubble. The problem with calling is that 88 is going to be a tough hand to play OOP against Barry, who I assume is probably not too bad postflop. I actually considered folding for that reason. I’d really be interesting in hearing from others about what to do in this spot. I elected to call.

Flop: Q 5 3, 2 diamonds, 1 heart. I check, Barry bets 4500. I haven’t seen a postflop hand from him yet, but I assume the betsize is standard and means nothing. I call.

Turn: 5h, putting a second flush draw on the board. I check, Barry takes a long time, looks like he’s arranging chips to bet, and finally checks. It really looked to me like he almost pulled the trigger on a bet and then decided against it.

River: 4h, completing the backdoor flush. I check. Barry fairly quickly bets 10K. Before he bets, he says, “Ten”. He pushes out a stack of 10K. Both the announcing of the bet amount and the pushing out of the bet (as opposed to his normal splashing of chips) are actions I haven’t yet seen from him.

Your action?