Kicking myself, but should i be???

Hey guys, just got eliminated from a $4.40 180 player sit and go in 7th place. I was second chip leader and went up against the chip leader and came off second best. Here is the senario.

Chip leader (52000) raises to 8000 utg. Blinds are 1k/2k. Had identified this guy as a bit of a chronic raiser. We had played probably 50+ hands at the final table and this guy was raising about every 3 hands preflop, basically every pot that got to him unopened. I found myself wih AJ on the button. My stack size was 48000 and i had a very solid table image. I decided to take a stand against this guy and raised to 26000. I was half expecting him to call as he had been reraised preflop on one other occasion and had called. He called my raise. Flop came down 258 rainbow (or something very simillar). He bet 10000. I did not believe him and figured i had at least 5050 chance of having a better hand and a very small chance of making him fold, so i raised him all in for my remaining 22000. He called with aq and i lost the hand and i was out of the tourny.

What do you guys reckon about my moves?

Well two things.

1) You read the situation well.. more likely he was bullying with his stack then getting a good run or cards but you were unlucky that when you actually reraised him he had a good hand. So unlucky there.

2) Judging by the action, he should have given you more respect (this is assuming your image is tight) and calling that all in was suspect. However, the board texture was not the best of to shove all in on.

I guess.. it was down to what was in his mind. I would say you made the right plays but just got unlucky that he had an actual hand. The only thing here is you failed to mention was your own image. There wasn't much of a range of hands he could beat with his AQ.

hey mate, thanks for the reply

I had a good table image at the time. I was being reasonably agressive, but not overly, and all the hands i had shown down were premium hands. It was definately a bad preflop call on his part, but as i said i was expecting it as he had shown he would not lay down easily. This is why i am not sure i made the right move, because i was half expecting the pre flop call i only had a marginal hand.

forgot to mention that both blinds were very small stacks, so no danger there. I was happy to put either or both all in with aj

you should never re-raise the only person who has more chips than you unless you have AK or JJ+...

I think that you played it wrong. You could simply call him and play for a smaller pot. This way he can fold if he does not connect ,because he won't risk any more chips with Ace high. He is the chip leader right ? He wants to win ... He won't risk his stack for a small pot if he does not connect!

Your pre-flop raise made the pot big enough to leave no option for folding and his call pre-flop really means that he has a better hand than you.

You could win this even with 72 and without showing a hand if you called him and then bet big or (re-raise to all-in) on the flop.

Yeah, you should be kicking yourself...Even if the guy was a little loose, a 4xBB raise from UTG deserves some respect.

Why "make a stand" against the only player at the table who can bust you?

What do you hope he's raising with? AT? KQ?I think you're behind to any hand that calls your re-raise pre-flop. Same same w/ your bet on the flop.

AJ just isn't that good of a hand to play against an UTG raise, I'd rather have 56.

Your bet on the flop is basically a bluff, against a bigger stack, who has shown strength before and on the flop.

All together, not well played. Fold pre-flop, let some one else play table cop.

Even if he seems like a serial raiser re-raising an UTG raiser with AJ is pretty bad. From his point of view you are re-raising on the button which widens your range. Unless its a maniac then he still represents a strong range a big ace or pocket pair.

He did have nothing on the flop so your instincts were correct but he was almost definately committed to the pot by that point and his nothing ended up being better than yours.

At the end of the day you probably should have folded as a big stack confrontation isn't what you want in that situation.

I think the fact that he called your re-raise ( as you expected he would ) should have told you he had a big hand, AJ is difficult to play in situations like this. I can't understand the post flop betting as you had both missed and a check down would have made a lot more sense though obviously the 1st to bet in situations like this takes the pot. With two really short stacks still at the table I would have either just called the initial raise or folded.

you can look at this certain hand from a few different perspectives.
you can look at it as a just bad luck since your move wasnt bad, and AJ most likely will lose to AQ.
also, since you say he is a "chronic raiser", why raise so much with only AJ?
you raised an amount which in my mind is leaving you stuck with only one move after the flop, ALL IN.
you leave yourself with pretty much no margain for error if indeed you are behind in the hand. i dont mean to be critical however AJ isnt all that powerfull, especially against a big stack like his.
also, i noticed you mentioned this guy raised UTG, which already should have been a warning sign.
Big stacks raise UTG when they dont want anyone to enter with a speculative hand, something nice like a medium suited connector.
they raise UTG when they have a big hand, yet still fragile, meaning a minimum of AJ and possibly AK. perhaps he would have raided with a pocket pair of 6's.
whenever i see people limping UTG, i usually see them reraising or going all in pre flop, unless they are donks and what not.
this guy raised a considerable amount, letting everyone know he has a nice hand, not huge, but certainly strong. i cant see him raising UTG with nothing, thats just taking a bad risk.
i have one question for you....
what do you think would have happened if you would have raised to 14000 or 18000? how do you think the hand would have played out?
i just want to see your opinion seeing as i have an idea but it is more of a player personality type theory concerning this hand.

I can understand the play but like people have said why risk it all on a marginal hand?
You could wait for a better spot but if you feel under pressure and like your not going to get a better spot and truly think you might be ahead then you have only 3 choices really for correct play.

1. Fold and wait for better spot
2. call and try to out play them post flop
3. re raise all in, note I think the re raise is a risk but once you do it you cant really get away from the hand your talking about putting close to half your stack in on any re raise, if your going to take such risks move the lot in. It's harder for them to call Thus has a higher success rate. I would put in lower re raises with AA only, and only against the right sort of players.

Note I would fold aq if I raised under the gun to 4bb and the button near to my stack sized shoved all in with 24 BB. Then again not sure if people in a $4 tournament would