good post tony..........i am in the same camp as you , i would have made the same play.far better to reach the final table with a stack that allows you to play as opposed to having to push all in at the first half hand. i went out in the very first hand of the 500$ flopping top two pair and losing to trips but i have no regrets.i could have been up against an overpair the way the betting went so i put my tournament on the line figuring that if my hand held up a) i would have a good stack to accumulate more chips and b) it would show other players that that i would not be pushed off a hand. with tournament payouts predominantly top heavy i feel the risk taken to win the tournament as opposed to just making the money iswell worth taking.