Nice one Mr. H. Case!

Would a smaller raise have been more effective in persuading you that you were facing a big hand rather than a re-steal? Or were you calling anyway?

Yes. I think a small re-raise or even a call would have set the alarm bells ringing. The small re-raise looks like he wants a call. The all in move looks like he does not. If he had called the game was up as I was not going to lay down top pair, top kicker after the flop, no matter what.
The Headcase

Hi Brian and the rest of you guys. Tikay mentioned this big debate to me and I thought I would take a look. Very interesting.
Just to put things in context I would explain that calling a raise with  As is very much not my usual style. In this situation everyone passed to me on the button. I may have raised in this spot with any two cards but I actually had a legit raising hand. Brian's all-in re-raise looked kinda like "I know you are stealing on the button and I am gonna re-steal " I have made this move myself in the past. If you are prepared to make this move you can do it with any two cards. Therefore when I called I thought I  may  well have the best hand, if I had read the situation right. Even against any pair 9's or under I am only a very small underdog. Its the usual race situation and you gotta win your races to win tournaments. At some stage you gotta gamble. this is why I decided that this may well be the time.