a preflop call us cash gamers don't make but hurt us in MTT's

[NLfool]

blinds 150/300 UTG moves in for 3500 I'm in MP with 88 with ~6500. I almost know he has AK/AQ but I'm in MP and there are 2 6k+ stacks behind plus a few 3k stacks behind me. I fold and the SB a short calls with AJ. And they split on a 2244x board

How bad is this leak?

[jrforman]

I don't think it's a bad leak...There are much better chances to get your stack in there given your position and stack size. Calling is not an option here and any reraise by you is ONLY going to be called by a better hand than both. In the cutoff or button I take my chances and stcik my stack in there given your read. Additionally, if he makes this play with JJ-AA, than it makes the fold that much easier.

[NLfool]

oh yeah it was a $20 tourny. should that skew me towards a call more often? Mean the hands I see all in preflop when the blinds were 15/30 were of the A4 all in QJ Calling all in.

It's very foreign to me to put my money in with 88 this early with 20+ BB but I'm clearly giving up some EV considering the hands I saw

[jrforman]

I can advocate pushing here with more regularity if you know you can get players behind you to fold hands like 99-JJ. Based on your reads it doesn't seem that way. That being the case, you will increase your variance for busting out of tournies or crippling your stacks calling in MP with hands like 66-88.