avoid the big stack at all cost, or decided based on EV?

[elmitchbo]

stars multi. i'm second in chips with a little over $11,000. the chip leader is at my table with $18,000. we are pretty far ahead of the rest of the field. he has been pushing the table around(and preventing me from playing much) and steadily picking up chips, while i earned my stack mostly in a few huge hands.

the hand itself is not the real issue here, but it is part of the setup....

we have just been moved to the final table. i'm in the CO and pick up 99. the big stack makes a normal 3x BB rasie to $1,200. i reraise to $2,400, leaving about $8,600 behind. everyone folds back to the big stack, and he pushes all in.

ok. if i fold now it will put me back in the middle of the pack, but with plenty of chips to play with. if i call and win i'll easily cruise to HU and have a great chance to win. of course if i call and loose i'm out with nothing.

this guy is the only stack at the table that can bust me. in this situation should i just avoid him at all costs, or play with him if i think the EV is there for the hand? my instinsts tell me i should make some adjustment, but i think that might be theoretically incorrect.

this is not the first time he's made a push like this.... he has used his stack nicely to bully people off of hands. when he's had to show down a hand it usually wasn't that great(he got lucky a time or two). i think i'm ahead here, although i would guess this guy was smart enough to realize that i'd been playing tight.

do i call if i think i'm ahead? or avoid the risk of the bust out and fold just in case he woke up with a hand here?

i have a tough time with tactical situations like this. it just seem slike the pro's and con's are about even. am i missing something that would make the decision easier?