[schwza]

what were the blinds in the Ax hand? it's pretty rare that you want to be raising 30% of your stack with a hand that can't stand a reraise. i'm guessing you had 4000 and the blinds were 200/400. in that case, i'd be inclined to push A8s and muck smaller hands.

once the other guy reraises you for 1500 more, you absolutely have to call. you're calling 1500 to win ~6000. folding would be wrong against any hand but AA.

hand 2: i'd push with QJ/QT and maybe Q9 here. you have no fold equity at all with such a short stack, so you're just looking for a big hand. you'll have to be all-in on your BB regardless of your cards, and this is a moderately favorable spot for you. best case, you'll get HU with utg getting ~2:1 on your money.