3 Left

[ZootMurph]

3 players left. Button has about T8k, I have T12k, BB has T17k. Blinds were 200-400. Before this hand, a lot of blind stealing was occurring, as is typical at this point in a MTT. My reads were that both were strong players. BB has been at a couple of final tables with me in the past, and I have a good read on him (it's unfortunate he is on my left). Never saw button before, but he wasn't in a lot of hands at the start of the final table, and when we got down to 5 he has really pushed it. Showed down one time with K3s for a flush to drop an allin small stack.

Button raises to 1200. I have AJo. I make it 3k to go. BB folds. Button thinks a while, then goes all in. What should I do here?

I will explain my raise and subsequent play later. This seems to be a typical shorthanded final table situation for me recently.

[gcDanno]

AJ is a strong raising hand when playing 3 handed, however, against an all in reraise, it becomes questionable. By calling, you are more than likely either dominated by AQ or AK, or at best a coin flip against a mid level pp, to a major dog if he has JJ-AA.

If you fold, you've still got 9k, which is plenty of chips before blinds catch up to you.

I'd lean towards a fold unless you have a specific read that says you know that he plays A9 this same way. But your read seems to say he is a strong player, so you can probably figure him for AK or TT would be my guess.

Fold is probably the proper play.
gc