hitting some obstacles at the bubble

Lemme just start by saying I play recreationally - by no means am I trying to make a living w/ poker. I've done fairly well the past six months playing PS $11, $22, $33 and $55 SNGs. A month ago I decided I would raid the $5.50 tables and see if I could whip some ass. I won the first 3, then fell into a drought. Haven't been in the money since. The last 8 games (not statistically significant) I've busted on the bubble. I don't feel I'm playing incorrectly - maybe it's just a blip. I can only recall two hands that bugged me..

PokerStars Game #2287586422: Tournament #11033018, Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2005/08/07 - 22:04:38 (ET)
Table '11033018 1' Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: Picachoo (3970 in chips)
Seat 4: Flatley (1855 in chips)
Seat 7: slinger2k (4565 in chips)
Seat 9: Kjtocool (3110 in chips)
Kjtocool: posts small blind 75
Picachoo: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to slinger2k [Qh Qd]
Flatley: raises 250 to 400
slinger2k: calls 400
Kjtocool: folds
Picachoo: folds

should I have pushed?

PokerStars Game #2287849525: Tournament #11035723, Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2005/08/07 - 22:33:23 (ET)
Table '11035723 1' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: texcoco (1325 in chips)
Seat 2: bemben19 (1270 in chips)
Seat 3: MaxxTjZues (1840 in chips)
Seat 4: madstyle51 (2050 in chips)
Seat 5: slinger2k (1325 in chips)
Seat 6: hef23 (1620 in chips)
Seat 7: jonathanc (1645 in chips)
Seat 8: mizbob (2425 in chips)
slinger2k: posts small blind 25
hef23: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to slinger2k [Qh Qc]
jonathanc: calls 50
mizbob: folds
texcoco: folds
bemben19: raises 50 to 100
MaxxTjZues: folds
madstyle51: folds
slinger2k: raises 100 to 200
hef23: folds
jonathanc: calls 150
bemben19: calls 100

was the raise correct (quite early - this crippled me)

[Ixnert]

Hand 1: push
Hand 2: raise more (300-350 or so).

[petvan]

I'm a little conservative, but likely push, or at least pop the first one to 1200 or so. Whatever the raise, you're putting him at push/fold, and likely would prefer to see his chips in the pot as you are likley way ahead. The other two stacks bug me though I don't want to give a anyone a cheap ride into a 3:1 pot where they might flop something.

In the second case, I'd raise more than to 200. All the minraises are troubling, though I'm not sure I'd let the hand go if someone came over all-in, but I'd at least like to play it HU. 400 or so seems right to me.

Many better opinions out there than mine though ;-)

P

[11t]

Yes you should be pushing hand 1

With hand 2, min-raising is foolish in SNG's. Raise him more (bump it up to 300ish) and play it post flop.