newbie tourney question

500 player Pstars tourney last nite, paying top 5. I'm in 30something out of 60something left, have about 10K and it's 1200/2400. I'm in the cutoff, and the button is superaggressive. I get AJo. UTG raises, another early position player coldcalls. The BB has a humongous amount of chips so I assume he'll call too. I folded. My reasoning was that UTG would only raise with a big pair or AK and that AJo was not a very good hand against 3 other players. I also reasoned that it would cost me my whole stack to go to the river which wasn't worth taking on 3 other players. I also thought that the button could reraise and/or cold-call. The hand was won by someone with ATo, and UTG mucked at the river so I never knew what he had. My AJ would've been good.


Winning that hand would've given me my biggest chance yet to make the money. How would you have played it? I finished 38/500 and spent two and half hours to get there. I'm wondering if I would've been better off being more aggressive with the AJo considering there was no buy-in, etc. Also, does the analysis change based on number of places paid, what the buy-in was, etc?


Thanks for any responses.


Hammuh

I would have folded for the same reasons you did. I may not have been concerned with the big stack potentially calling behind me. At this point/possibly even sooner, you should become more aggressive since, as you say, you will probably have to go to the river with all your chips. Calling this hand is not the best opportunity you will have. Start raising when it is folded to you with marginal hands such as Ax or KT and try to build up some chips. When you are short stacked, it is hard to play standard poker. You need some wins. It is hard to win with a small stack and 38th pays the same as 6th or 500th in this tournament, so take some chances. Once you gain some chips you can change gears and play more conservative if that is your style.

Fold here for sure. Wait for an opportunity to be the first one in with a raise, or to be holding a premium hand. But don't wait until you're blinded down to scraps.


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)