How should this hand be played?
 

Live tournament (very low entry fee). Blinds 100/200. 6-handed.

Relevant stacks:

Button ~6000
SB (Hero) 1100
BB ~3000

Folded to the button, who limps. He has limped often, and folded to a subsequent raise every time. Hero looks at 98o. The pot currently has 500 in it and Hero has 1000 back. BB has just moved to the table. Hero has aggressive image, but not excessively so. Most players in the tournament are poor, and probably won't really understand that the hero is very short-stacked and can only make an all-in raise if raising - they might see an all-in as a bluff. Conversely, they probably aren't going to widen hero's range of hands if he goes all in on the grounds that he is short-stacked and needs to make moves - at least not nearly as much as they should. Should hero:

(a) fold
(b) call
(c) push

Any comments?

Thanks,

Gavagai

Re: How should this hand be played?
 

I think all three options are very close and it is really read dependant. Your fold equity with this bunch is probably no different with 900t or 1000t so I would at least call. If you fold pre-flop or call and fold after the flop you still have a workable stack and good position. Your read that you have decent FE against limper would lean me towards a push though.

Re: How should this hand be played?
 

I like a push, though I guess it depends on some more factors. For example, what's the payout structure? What's the average stack at the table (beides the two other people involved)?

Your reasoning seems to contradict itself, as well. They're inexperienced, so you say they won't realize you're loosening up (and thus won't widen your range). But you also say they're apt to call a push suspecting it's a bluff. It seems like it can't be both...

Anyway, I probably push this, given your read that he'll fold a lot here. And if he doesn't, 98 is probably live here, and it's not like you can really afford to avoid gamboolin' it up with a stack of 5.5x BB.

Re: How should this hand be played?
 

Fold and steal with any 2 the very next time it is folded to you.

Edit: Calling is AWFUL in this spot, BTW.

Re: How should this hand be played?
 

It is 6-handed, so if hero folds he gets four hands before paying the blinds. In the best possible scenario, it is folded to hero on the button - is pushing any 2 here against two random hands (in order to win a pot which is 40% smaller) really much better? What about the second best possible scenario (being folded to in the cut-off)? If hero folds with the intention of pushing with no limpers, there is considerable risk that he will have to push into 3,4 or 5 random hands, and the pot will much be smaller. Just not really sure what the comparison is between these situations and the one I presented, but my intutition is that these situations are not really better, particularly since the pot is smaller.

Should the chance that hero picks up a decent hand over the next 4 hands be a significant consideration?

Does anyone think that this is a clear push?