Aggressiveness Just Before Final Table... advice please

[MSUcougar]

Yesterday I was playing a $50+5 on party, 570 people, down to 14 left. I have ~30000 chips with blinds 2000/4000. Table has been generally tight with most hands consisting of a raise stealing the blinds. I have had success stealing blinds, and have made it a point to play more aggressively than I had in the past but have not been super overly aggressive (most people probably didn't notice me more than anybody else). I picked up JJ UTG and ended up getting all in preflop with a 20000 stack with AT and he hit a flush ( /images/graemlins/mad.gif )...

So now I'm sitting at 9800 chips in the BB but luckily it was folded around to me.

On the button I picked up A4o. At this point there were 12 people remaining, and my goal is a top 5 finish. It was folded around to me and I quickly decided to push. BB had around 40000 chips, thought for a few seconds and called with J2s and of course hit his flush on the river to knock me out in 12th.

Initially I was kinda pissed off that:
a. he called 2.5BB with J2
b. he won with J2

After I cooled off I realized I would have been very tempted to call in that situation as well... Anyways, my question is, given my goal, was my push from the button justified there? I probably could've waited for a better hand, and maybe even backed into the final table before the blinds hit me again, but with only 10k chips, I had to make a move somewhere...

Did I make the right play?

[ismisus]

You got your money in with the best hand. Since at this point your folding equity is gone, pushing with A4 on the button is a good move imho

[MeanGreenTT]

12 people remaining so I assume, 6 at each table? Which means 3 hands later and you're looking at the "cripple you/bust out" blinds in the face. Folded to me with just the blinds to act and you have 2.5xBB

To me, this is an easy push and made the same moves just this past Sunday in a live tournament. This was with 15 people left and top 9 pay. It was the only way to survive with my stack in that situation, seems comprable.

But I'm interested in seeing what the real gurus have to say.

[schwza]

a) it would've been a bad play on his part to fold 32o. he is calling 6k to win 22.

b) you should obviously push. you're seeing a showdown, and you're probably not going to get better than A4o.

[MSUcougar]

[ QUOTE ]
b) you should obviously push. you're seeing a showdown, and you're probably not going to get better than A4o.

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would it still be correct if I was reasonably sure we would be at the final table before the blinds hit me again?

I'm just concerned I was too quick to push here without even considering folding (since I'm likely at best a 60/40 and at worst a huge dog)...

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
b) you should obviously push. you're seeing a showdown, and you're probably not going to get better than A4o.

[/ QUOTE ]
would it still be correct if I was reasonably sure we would be at the final table before the blinds hit me again?

I'm just concerned I was too quick to push here without even considering folding (since I'm likely at best a 60/40 and at worst a huge dog)...

[/ QUOTE ]

*if* you were pretty sure that we'd get to the final table before the blinds came again, maybe you could throw it away. (i don't think you had any reason to believe two people would be busted in the next 3 hands, but i'm happy to talk about a hypothetical.) there was a pretty decent jump in the payouts from 11th to 10th, and if you were table 2 then you could expect to get moved and hopefully get put in a favorable position.

but still, i'd say you're better off pushing. i think the BB will call with any two (and if he folds, all the better), so while you're in bad shape against A5+, you're in great shape against 4x (and pretty likely to chop with A2-A3, which is fine also). i don't think you can pass up this chance to get some real chips to take to the final table. also there's no pay difference between 12 and 11, so that's another little encouragement to push.