Tough spot close to the money in Bovada's $10+1 10k GTD (10k Chips 10-minute levels)

Level- 1,500/3,000 ante 300

UTG (126,609)- opens to 6,666...
folds around to hero (70,337) in BB w/ 97 and we call 3,666

Flop- 9K9
We check, villian checks

Turn- J
We bet 9,250...villian calls

River- 6
We bet 17,000...hero raises all-in and we fold

Planned on bet/folding river because we don't beat any of the hands he raises for value on the river. Is the line that we took okay?

I'll open by conceding I have a lot to learn - which is why I opened this account today and this my first post.

That said, I think you took a pretty tight approach that I cant say is wrong but I think is going to miss out on some opportunities.

My thinking centers on the payouts of those tournaments and wonders about how far you were from the bubble. If I remember correctly it's just above a buy in or two for some time after the bubble bursts. If there were like 100 payouts total then for example payout for position 100, the bubble, is more than half the payout for position 65. Could be wrong; please correct me if so.

So if I played it like I have been lately I could see myself calling on the theory that he could exhibit that same behavior with AK, JK, pocket Aces, or 9T or lower (9T and 89 suited make the most sense but anything less than J kicker really).

If you win, fantastic. You are positioned for a deeper run to where the real money is. If you lose you still have some room to play defensively and wait for the bubble to pass. If you see a chance double up before it does you can go for it. Otherwise once it passes you go ham hoping to double up once or more to create space for a real run. If you get crippled here, bubble passes, and you go all in on some pocket pair or something else that loses you might have lost $5-$10 in payout but you gained 1) a chance for a good run and 2) whatever time you would have lost on the vain hope you could inch your way deeper.

Of course this is the input of someone who has lost more than he has won in my short (I guess its 18months/2 yrs now with only a year playing anything but a home game with college kids) poker career and someone who recently got sick of playing the end of tournaments from 11:30am until 1am (with class in the morning) for only a few bucks more.

I wouldnt fold, especially with this stack. For me, you are only beated by k9, JJ and KK. Since you are short, he could have slowplayed top pair or AA on this semi dry board. The shove on the river can be a king trying to get value from a J. Anyway, there are so few hands beating you imo, thats why i like the CALL.

Wp pre, flop and turn

why do we call PF here and OOP?

As played, is there any value in leading this flop?

It can't be bad to peel here getting a very good price with a hand that flops well. I guess it may not be bad to lead bc we I feel we can lead gutters here too sometimes.