In the money, middle of the pack, preflop question.

[incognito]

Online tournament, final 4 tables, one more elimination and we're down to 3 tables and a higher payout.

My table is 7-handed at the moment. Blinds are 15K/30K, with a 1500 ante. Relevant players are:

me: in the big blind with ~400K (M = 6.5, Q = 1)
preflop raiser: 3rd to act with ~650K (M = 11, Q = 1.5)
caller: in the small blind has ~275K (M = 4.5, Q = .7)

In the hand immediately before this one, I doubled up a short stack with JJ against his KK, so I may be perceived as steaming. The preflop raiser is solid, but not overly tight or weak. The small blind has limped preflop and folded to a raise a few times, so I don't think he's very good.

It's folded to my opponent in 3rd position, who min-raises to 60K.
Everyone folds to the small blind, who calls.
I'm in the big blind with A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

My action? Note that a raise to say ~180K represents just under half of my stack, so I think I think if I raise I have to push.

[Str8 Baller]

With the information I have I would push. I would be most scared of a middle pocket pair. Anything up to QQ and your not in that bad of shape. He may have AA or KK but if he did I would just say oh well. He will probably lay down lots of lower pp's as he won't want to get into a massive confrontation at this point if he has been playing solid. I guess you could call preflop with the intention of going all-in if your hand is hit at all. I can't see you not playing this hand with that low of an M. I think your effective M is just under 5. I'd just push with an M that low.

[incognito]

Given that I had just played and lost a big hand, I might be perceived as steaming. So I think there's a greater than usual chance that any raise I make will be called, particularly by a small to medium pair that might otherwise fold. I still have enough chips left that I don't want to risk my entire tournament on a coin-flip.

Therefore, if I had been heads up against the raiser I would be inclined to call the minraise and see the flop. However, the presence of a third player is going to make it difficult to continue after the flop unless I hit in a big way.

So I think I have to raise. Given that a raise of any kind is going to cost me half of my stack and give me the odds I need to call an all-in by the preflop raiser (I can't put him on aces or kings, so I'm probably a small underdog to a medium pair), I think I have to push.

So I push. Results in white:

<font color="white"> 3rd position calls with QQ, small blind folds. The board is no help and I'm out. </font>