$27.5 Stars flop middle pair

[applejuicekid]

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

UTG+1 (t2740)
MP1 (t9995)
MP2 (t1800)
Hero (t3165)
CO (t4355)
Button (t9285)
SB (t4722)
BB (t10569)
UTG (t28268)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t600</font>, CO calls t600, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>.

Flop: (t1400) 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t1200</font>, <font color="#CC3333">CO raises to t2600</font>, Hero calls t1340 (All-In).

Turn: (t6540) 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

River: (t6540) 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t6540


Usually with 15bbs I play really tight preflop, but I'm tying to open up a bit. After he pushes I feel like I have to call, so I'm more interested in thoughts on preflop and my flop bet. Would leading for 800 be better? If I do that should I call a push?

[ItalianFX]

Fold preflop. This is one of the reasons why. When you hit something, you don't know where you stand in the hand.

And if you are going to play, hit something big or find out where you are and then get out of the way.

I might bet 800-1000 here and then fold to a raise or push.

[hERESY]

The preflop steal isn't bad whatsoever IMO.

You obviously want to accumulate chips before the blinds increase, but don't want to push with 15BB into these big stacks.

The four yet to act are more average-stacked and would be hesitant to call your push with a7, a6, 22-88 etc. because it would represent like ~1/3 of their stack(s). This is obv speculation, but I think when people call your push you're def. beat.

We know this guy should really be pushing over your PF raise or just folding, and this is important because when someone calls off 1/7 their stack PF I can usually assign them some form of a Q and save a c-bet.