[Lori]

1.) Just see the flop and hit something nice is my preference. No need to put my tourney on the line here, those darn calling stations find it hard to fold.

2.) Personally I think Hero is strong enough to bet here, he will walk into aces or kings annoyingly often, but the short stack only has to win one pot and he's way ahead of Hero.
If the short stack is something much smaller, like 50 chips and he'll have to win two pots, I would consider checking, but I think we have to go for it here.

Lori