Live Tournament eight players left

[chaas4747]

Saturday morning live NLHE tournament at local casino. Final 9, pays out to 6.

Blinds 300/600
Hero - t7800 (on the button) second in chips
Villain - t8500 (SB)chip leader

Villain is a tight player, but has used his chip stack to scare people out of hands. He is aggressive, but is not afraid to fold if he feels he has been beat.

UTG + 1 calls BB
Folded to Hero.
Hero - A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] bet
Folds around Villain - makes it 2400.

Hero pushes 5400 (all in). Gets called.

Is this the correct play here, or is it better in this position to call the 2400, and play the flop.

Also, what is your feeling with this hand and playing (if you are second in chips) against the chip leader is this a situation you want to stay out of and let others eliminate players at the table, or is it correct to be aggressive in this spot.

Thanks in advance!

[BB_Specials]

You could just smooth call and see what happens, but usually you will have to fold on the flop unless a Q or A or maybe 2 spades fall. So, I think pushing is better than calling, but folding might be even better than that because you will probably find a better spot with more than 10x BB in chips.

This is a very read dependant situation. If you believe that he is just flexing his "poker muscle" and trying to push the blinds out you should push back. However, I'm guessing this wasn't the case by his call.

[chaas4747]

I had watched him play some low pockets rather agressively pre-flop, and then fold them when he did not trip up. Earlier he had went all in pre-flop, everyone folded and he showed KK. At worst I figured he might have a small pair and I would have two overs.
He called, and flipped A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].

I was happy, the flop went a J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 10 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 10 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
Fourth and fifth were blanks.