Re: A couple of ace/rag hands.
Hand 1.
Just depends on folding equity. I don't think it is a bad play at all. I do it somewhat frequently not all the time but not never either. Fossilman once made a post explaining (paraphrasing-all mistakes are mine) it is better if you have the choice to raise with (i) a real hand (ii) a hand like 10-9 suited that plays well against A-x then (ii) a hand like A-4. The problem is the blinds are so big you have to be a little less picky and four handed a hand like A-4 rates to be good a decent amount of the time, also you might get hands like A-8 to A-5 to fold.
Talking about winning "only" the blinds is a bit incorrect when the blind money is 18% of the average stack size. Winning the blinds is huge.
Hand 2. Once you are in third most of your equity derives from getting firsts and taking a few thirds as a consequence. Also you don't have that many more chips than the short stack.
My personal preference is to push here but you could also raise about 2.5x bb and fold to a reraise (depending on what your standard raise has been in the past).
Just my two cents.
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