dillema in early stages of "the money"

[pokerraja]

this has actually been bothering me for some time. i never know what to do. whats better EV. tonight was a perfect example. ok, so tonight i just cracked the money. top 110 got paid of the super monday at PP. i was very short stacked, i had about 5 big blinds left and we are down to 90 people. I get AJ in my BB. it was raised to me. My dillema is that should i gamble and try to double up? or just fold? and figure that i can climb probably 2 pay brackets just by blinding out. as most of you know, people drop like flies in beginning pay out phase. well i ended up losing and busting out that hand. i wanted to double up and try to go far. now, i ended up watching the table and not even 5 mins later they are down to 70 players, which translates into about $200 more. Im wondering if your a very short stack, it might be more profitable to just blind out and climb as far as you can. of course you play your AA-JJ. what are your thoughts?

[mullaney]

Is the raise to you small enough that there is any chance of the other guy folding? Is the raise coming from UTG or from the button? Do you have any kind of read on the player who made the raise? Is he short stacked and desparate too or does he have a nice healthy stack?

I could see this going either way. If it's a shorter stack who could be trying to make his last stand with any ace, or if it looks like a button steal from a big stack I would be more inclined to push. If the raise is small enough that he might fold to a reraise, I might push (unlikely with your stack). However, if I have to push with AJ, I prefer to be the first in the pot so I have a chance of just taking down the blinds. That just won't happen here. You are behind most legitimate hands he might have. The best you can hope for is AT or worse, but I have a feeling you will run into a decent pair, AK or AQ far more often.

[UsedToBeARock]

Having been in this situation a couple of times recently, MHO is that you need to gamble. The difference in the first few pay grades is not enough to warrant conservative play. Especially if you've already invested 4 hours or more in the game. You want to get to the final table where the money is.