[M.B.E.]

[ QUOTE ]
Payouts - 4th $130, 3rd $240, 2nd $420, 1st $640.

[/ QUOTE ]
The best way to think of this is that all four of you are guaranteed $130, with $910 remaining in the prize pool to be distributed 56% to 1st, 32% to 2nd, and 12% to 3rd.

So you don't care much about making third place since it's only 12% -- you should be focusing on maximizing your chance of finishing first, even if that increases the risk of your finishing fourth.

So going back to your hand with QQ on the button, you clearly don't want to push preflop unless you think there's a good chance that the SB will call. Your play of raising to 2000 worked out fine. Obviously you should call the reraise. Personally my initial raise would have been less than 2000, because your goal is to persuade the other players (particularly the aggressive SB) that you are not potcommitted, and that might be a hard sale when you're in for 40% of your stack.