late stage of multi, did I rush things???

[pokerraja]

Last night, PP 10pm $33 MTT. about 1500 people. I made the money without any close calls. with 100 people left, im at $36,000 chips, average was $10,000. things were looking very good.
when we reach 60 left, im down to about $32,000 chips. I didnt have much oppurunity to steal blinds, cards were bad, and table was aggresive as most were above average.

this is where the problems started for me. With 60 left, average chips is now ~$20,000. blinds were 2000/4000. I open raise to 8000 with pocket 8's in middle postion. Ultra aggresive button pushed me all-in, I FOLD. I was hoping to steal blinds, as i had a tight table image. anyways now down to $24,000 chips. about average.
IN BB i get 9,9. however utg pushes in for $10,000, and then middle position guy goes over the top for $40,000, again i fold? midd position wins hand with QQ. so good fold. fold sb.
next orbit, i stay afloat bye stealing blinds with AK. pretty much folding away.
with 40 people left. i have $16,000 chips, blinds are now 3000/6000. im way below average. i figure i need to make a move soon, as there are some huge stacks at my table. finally this is where i think i might of rushed things? IN early position, i see AJos. i move all-in. i figure i need to double up, and even win blinds is good. but, button calls me and wins hand with QQ. im knocked out in 40th place. do you think my move was ok? did i rush things? maybe i should of limped in? Even if i saw flop, i was in trouble as a J fell. i make a few hundred bucks, but i really thought this was going to be my night! thanks for any input.

[gcDanno]

You are in big trouble, you can't last 2 more rounds. If you are EP, then the blinds are on top of you anyway. All in is the only move, hoping to pull down the blinds, or double/triple up.

[McMelchior]

In the first hand you describe you commit 25% of your chips to a minimum open/raise from MP w/88. With aggressive players after you (it would be helpful to know their stacks) this could be construed as asking for an all-in re-raise. Depending how MP you are and how many players are at your table I'd rather (2-3 off the button) fold or (1-2 off the button) push all-in.

I completely agree with folding 99 on the BB for an all-in and a re-raisor.

A move with AK is definitively not a "steal" - that's a raise with a very solid hand, and you can't really ask for much better holding at this time and point in the tourney.

And with 16,000 and the cost of sitting one round at 9,000 AJ is manna from Heaven - also from EP, where the risk of someone putting you on a steal is somewhat diminished.

Overall I get the impression that you err on the side of passive play rather than aggressive ... remember, steals are moves made with sub-par hands exclusively based on position and reads, and moves with a large array of hands are pretty much mandatory when your stack dips to the neighborhood of three (3) times the cost of sitting one round. Otherwise you're not going to get the respect that's necessary to make most opponents fold and thereby giving your hand a reasonable chance of winning the confrontation.

Best,

McMelchior (Johan)

[dmk]

I probably would have pushed w/ the 88. I dont' like min-raising, and 3x is 1/3 your stack.

If you had around 30k, i'd say muck it and wait for a better spot. But w/ only 2.5xBBs left, and your blinds about to hit, you really have to push. You ran into a better hand, it happens, at least you had 3 outs /images/graemlins/smile.gif

GJ on placing in the money, sorry you couldn't make it further.