[DVaut1]

Hey all,

This is my first post, so please be kind (but critical). This hand is from a $200+16 satellite with 133 entrants, which had at this point played down to 14 players. Top 2 win a seat in large buy-in tournament, plus travel expenses(in other words, the top two places each win a $10k tournament buy-in and 2k for travel expenses). Places 3-5 also pay ($1320 for 3rd, $780 for 2nd, and $520 for 3rd).

7 Seated at the table, with blinds of 800/1600 and antes of 200. I've got a stack of around 34k, which is about average. If I remember correctly, at this point in the tournament, I am in 6th or 7th place. The chip leaders (top 2 or 3 players) all have somewhere between 70k-80k. I'm UTG and bet 6000 with 7c7s. A middle position player goes all-in for about 15k (I've been at this table for about 20 hands. The middle position player who went all-in over the top of me has not been either overly aggressive, nor overly tight. His/Her play has been relatively unextrodinary. In other words, I don't have much of a read on him/her). The action is folded around to me, leaving me heads-up should I decide to play. Here's what I'm thinking:

1) The Gap Concept may dictate that I fold here. An all-in raise from someone who has, up to this point, not shown excessive agression deserves respect this late in a tournament. I could save the 9k it would take to call for a better bet later. However (and this brings me to my second point):

2) I'm certainly not the best player, nor one of the best players left in the tournament. I believe I will need some amount of luck to finish in the top two places. The cash prizes for 3-5 would certainly be nice (and worthwhile of consideration), but it is not a life changing amount of money for me. I'm playing to finish in first or second.
Also, I believe the pot is giving me decent (very good?) odds. There is somewhere close to 25k in the pot counting blinds and antes, and it is 9k more to call. Obviously, AA-88 has me dominated. But given my opponent's semi-short stack, I think I can put him on some hands which he would push with that would leave me either coin flipping (AK-AJ, maybe AT, KQ, some suited Broadways, etc.) or that I dominate (66-22). So, my questions:

1) Was my raise with 7c7s too aggressive?
2) Do the pot odds make it an auto-call? Does the Gap Concept make it an auto-fold?
3) Have I put him on too great a range of hands? Would he really push with 33 or AT, for example? It seems foolish to assume he automatically has an overpair; but am I assuming that he's too loose?

Again, it's my first post, but do not let that stop you from being critical.

Daryl