Tournament play, the small and big blind posted their blinds and the dealer was shuffling the cards. The UTG player puts out chips equal to 3.5X of the BB and says raise. Is this legal or ethical? Is it a binding bet? How should I have handled this situation?
Strictly speaking, there is no rule against a "blind raise"... an issue might arise if he did that, and then attempted to take back the bet once the cards are dealt or just before all the cards are dealt. It may not be a +EV move, but I don't see what it wouldn't be legal. We discussed the issue of blind raises with respect to re-buy tournaments in another thread, I believe.
Kind of like a straddle in a cash game, only it's not live and it's just as dumb. The raise is reckless but perfectly legal and binding.
This situation raises another question: What if the premature bet were from the UTG +1 ? I know the answer..."if action changes"....however, that's one of the issues I have with that rule.
What I'm saying is: Whenever a player intentionally acts out of turn, his bet should be committed to the pot.
It is binding, in my opinion, and will remain committed.