$6.50 AQ on bubble vs short stack shove and call

[sixfour]

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The thing is, you are 3rd in chips and the bigstack has a ton of chips. You are really just trying to lock up 3rd place and then trying to improve once you are ITM.

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That was kind of my thinking, so I just called, BB obv called, it's checked down, the bigstack hits a flush and wins, but would likely have folded to a shove [he has K4s or something like that], as would the caller [had 85s, lol]. Would have got it in good against the shorty [K6o] if I shoved but he'd have hit his king.

Went on to win it, obv, but I really was unsure whether to jam and hope to get it in good with added value, call and shove any A/Q that comes on the flop, or save the 600 or whatever I had for a little bit of extra equity in future pushes and hope that the two players in the pot knock out the shorty and I tie up third.

[holy32]

If you push over buttons call, bb folds, Button folds, and you
win vs UTG you have 4610 chips, nice
lose vs UTG you have 1515 chips, still okay

If you call, bb calls and you
win vs everyone (you hit A, bet out, everyone folds) 4975
lose (no A, no Q, someone bets, you fold) 1515, still okay
(but, the same thing would have happened had you pushed pf, the difference being: you never gave bb or button a cheap chance to outdraw you on the flop)

you call, bb pushes, button folds (obv) and you
win vs both: you have 6490 chips, very nice
win vs BB, lose vs UTG: 3030, ok (still OTB)
win vs UTG, lose vs BB: you're out in 3rd
lose vs both: out in 4th

Your gain, by only calling, getting BB to push and winning vs everyone is less than 2000 chips. I would prefer playing AQo only vs one hand and not having the risk of bubbling.

btw: Your gain, by calling, getting BB to call, and playing a flop is close to 0. (If not negative, b/c you have to hit something w/ the first 3 cards)