Should I feel guilty?

Hey guys, I have started playing in a weekly live MTT for around 25-30 people. Its a very small and casual game with just a £5 buy-in and paying out the first 4 players.

We all start with 2500 chips and blinds begin at 25/50 but rise quite quickly every 15 minutes. Everyone gets 1500 extra after 1 hour and the 3-4 tables break and recombine as necessary untill 9 are seated at the final table.

Last week I was the guy that went out causing the last 2 tables to combine but this week I faired better.

Well anyway we are down to 5 (about to bubble), I cannot remember the exact details of the hand except the I was dealing (so was on the button)

UTG was the short stack and was down to 2-3 bb, the guy acting behind him, the big stack with about 12 bb raises big and I would have to go all-in to call. I am aware of a guy behind me and observing. I look at my cards but kinda knowingly share with this guy stood up behind me. I know he is a good player but he had got sucked out on earlier and busted out. I see 88s and need to make a difficult decision.

I figure that if I call I could well be ahead and if I wiin the hand I have as good as won the match. The guy raising in to me has played loose this evening and 88 should do well... could also end up 4 way however as the blinds are short and have been getting frisky.
However if I pass then UTG guy is sure to be dead soon and I still have about 9 bb left. I could atleast guarantee a cash.

I sit there pondering my options and scanning the other 4 players and their stacks.

I hear a quiet voice from behind me...

"that's a call"

I called and ended up HU with the big stack all-in. He flipped over A8, I dealt out the board and my 88 held. I took most of his stack.

The outcome of this hand didnt lead me to winning the tourney but a half dozen hands or so later I placed second. I didn't ask this guy stood behind me for help but would have probably folded had he not encouraged me to call. Perhaps I would have placed 4th or 3rd... who knows.

Should I feel bad?

Uh... that's definitely shady. Did the guy standing behind you also know the big stack's hole cards? In any case, while you didn't instigate the cheating, you wound up partaking in it, even if, once the guy behind you had whispered those words, you literally couldn't help it. His advice affected your decision in a way that was not fair to the other players, so I'd say you have a cause for feeling bad...

I've never played live (for real money), though, and am not completely sure what would be the right or customary thing to do in such a situation. Own up to the table that the guy behind you had seen your hole cards and had just suggested to you what to do?

I don't think it is anything to feel that bad about. The guy who told you what to do can't see the future. It was just the right play. Luck could of punished you after all.

Well, in his opinion that was a call. You made the decision.

Letting someone else see your cards is maybe not so cool if he will then give you advice, but it happens online all the time among friends - roommates, family members whatever, and anyway, you were not soliciting advice.

You mention you would not have made the call otherwise, this may be the main point in this story you want to consider.

It is always a personal thing, how to deal with idiosyncrasies that happen in live play.

HOWEVER: OP was not intentionally cheating, there are a number of cases of players not in the game knowing what an active player has. Giving advice is going to far, but it does not look like OP was trying to get advice. Once the player says "thats a call", he (OP) makes his own decision and keeps his mouth shut. Saying anything will cause stress that otherwise is not there. Why bother? its on a hand in a pub game (I guess) where ppl have probably been drinking and mentioning this in this situation is asking for more trouble than its worth.

If its a one time thing, forget it..... Next hand please...............

This is actually a form of collusion.

In a casino, you could face sanctions because of this.

So you would

A) not lift your cards so that anyone else could see them.
B) request the person behind you be removed.

Obviously you didnt want the advice, but it would be almost impossible to prevent collusion in any game where the words "I didnt ask" gave you complete immunity, especially where the collusion comes from the rail.

You shouldn't feel too guilty, but the guy in back of you certainly should. If it happened to me, I would feel bad about it, but I wouldn't feel as though I did something really wrong. It turned out to be collusion, but you didn't know he would open his big fat mouth! Next time, keep your cards to yourself and this kind of thing won't happen again.

Strong username to post content correlation

Just let this be a lesson and don't show cards to anyone anymore. Don't feel guilty, just assume he didn't know the other person's holecards and that he would have called in this situation. Forget about it, but try to avoid situations like this by keeping your hand private