Final table Aruba hand
 

Final table of the 100+9 Aruba tourney on UB. 97 entered so 1st place goes to Aruba and everyone else gets diddly squat. CO (T29,780) has min-raised at least 3 out of the 5 previous hands and is playing very aggressively. 6 players left and blinds are 400/800 with antes of 100. I have two red kings, a fairly tight image, and T8345 on the button.

UTG and UTG+1 both fold, CO min-raises to 1600, I re-raise to 2400, the blinds fold and CO calls. Should I have pushed here? He's been raising so often that I don't have a good idea of what he's holding. With such a good starting hand, I guess I didn't want to scare him off if he made something on the flop I could beat (we shall call this "mistake #1").

The flop comes Ac 4c 7d, he checks, I push and he calls w/ As 9c. I fail to improve and am out in 6th place. Was this push wrong? With as much in the pot as in my stack and the blinds/antes so high, I don't like my chances of winning the tourney from the short stack and, as nothing but 1st paid, there was really no incentive to sneak up a spot or two. Again, the more I think about this, the more I believe that, since I was going to push with an ace on the flop, I should've pushed preflop (though I suspect he would have called with A9 anyway; not that that makes a difference now). Thoughts?

Re: Final table Aruba hand
 

If you think he will call all-in with A9 preflop, then you should definately push. Treat it like a cashgame, right?

Re: Final table Aruba hand
 

Most people believe that A9 is a monster, especially shorthanded, and frankly, it is a good hand to have, so if it's any concilation, he probably would've called anyways. However, I believe pushing here is the right idea. Even if he minimum raised, chances are he's willing to put his chips at risk, and if he's not, you just picked up 2K in chips. I'd say push with KK facing a raise next time.

Re: Final table Aruba hand
 

The more I think about it, the more I think I was just in denial about an ace actually appearing on that flop. Any flop that doesn't have an ace on it is getting all my money in without even thinking about it and when I see an ace flop and it gets checked to me, I push anyway. I wish I'd thought it through to that point preflop and I would've pushed then. He may or may not have called but if he did, he'd be making a mistake and my loss would be a bad beat and, if he didn't, I'd pick up a fair amount of blind money. As it was, I think I'm the one who compounded the mistake of not pushing preflop by pushing on a flop with an ace.

Not that it matters, but the guy that busted me went on to win the tourney (just ended a couple minutes ago) and his third or fourth (at least) Aruba prize package (which he'll get as 10K instead of an extra trip).

Re: Final table Aruba hand
 

With your chip count I'd push preflop. With more chips I'd probably make a bigger raise anyway. Picking up chips if he folds isn't bad and if he calls you are likely a favorite to double up.

In this situation, pushing pre-flop is my choice
 

With your small stack and 6 players I would push pre-flop.
A real re-raise puts 50% of your stack in so put it all in.
You don't really want to see a flop here unless you are willing to fold when the A flops. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

All-in puts the bully down, or forces him to call as an underdog. With a small stack I would be forcing this bully to fold or call me every chance I could get.

Your play isn't really bad.... its just an all-in 'stop & go'.