Final Table/Poor Decision?

[eggzz]

Pretty sure I made a poor decision at the final table of a NL multi table tournament last night. 60 entrants. I walked a tightrope to get to the final table, was in 22nd place (out of 22) with less than 800 chips at one point before finally doubling up a few times to make it to the finals in 7th place.

So I'm happy to be in the money, and real happy to have a few chips in front of me. After a few orbits, two players have busted out and I'm sitting with about 5000 in chips, with the chip leader at around 19,000. There are about 3-4 others that have about the same amount as me, and one guy with 11,000 and one guy with 14,000.

I'm in the BB with Pocket 8s. The blinds are 300/600 and there is an ante of I believe 25 chips apiece. All fold to the CO (same stack size as me)who makes the obligatory raise to 1200. SB calls (he has 12,000 in chips) and I call the raise.

Flop is Q55. SB Checks.

Here is my mistake, I checked. I believe I should have gone all in with my remaining 3800, or I suppose I could have made a 1800 chip bet, but I'm pretty pot committed in my mind if I make any bet. It wasn't out of weakness, because I can/do/did play aggressive enough at times, however maybe it was weakness. I knew that by checking, that the CO was probably going to bet big, and he did. He went all in for about 3500 and the SB folded and I folded. After he bet, I still wasn't convinced he had a queen. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but he could have had K9o just as easily as having QJ.

After losing some more antes I found myself going all in preflop a few hands later with AQo and found myself up against 99. I did not improve and busted out in 7th.

I was happy enough with the seventh place finish, but this one hand keeps weighing on me. Did I play this poorly?

[jakuda]

Depending on your read of the players, it would have been okay to push your stack in with pocket 8's.

I would tend to see the preceding preflop play as a weak raise and a weak call by the other two players so they would probably fold giving you a nice pot, and if not, then you are probably against overcards, of which they probably have each others outs. If you're against an overpair you're stuck, but personally I wouldn't like just calling 25% of my stack and hoping for a set. Most likely your 8's won't win without help.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

Hi-

Your mistake was not raising allin for your remaining $3800. First of all it is possible that both players fold for the remaining 3800, or call with a weaker hand (sometimes they have a lower pocket pair).

You are gambling that no one has an overpair, but if one person calls with overcards, you are a slight favorite in the hand, with the added value of the dead money in the pot. I like pushing preflop and hoping to get one caller at most. At least if you win the hand, you have an excellent shot at top 3 prize money.

[mackthefork]

Debatable, shove in you showed weakness, he bluffed you out, call the bet. IMO

After all you went out in 7th anyway!

[TheGrifter]

A raise to 1200 is pretty weak from the CO. Looks like he has a hand that he wants to be able to get away from. Of course the SB could call with a bunch of hands here since it's only 900 more to him.

I push preflop here.