Hand 1

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (4 handed)

UTG (t1070)
Hero (t1840)
SB (t4310)
BB (t780)

Preflop: Hero is Button with , .
1 fold, Hero raises to t800, SB raises to t1300, 1 fold, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t2400

Results in white below:
No showdown. SB wins t2400.

Hand 2

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (4 handed)

SB (t1070)
Hero (t1040)
UTG (t5410)
Button (t480)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
2 folds, SB raises to t600, 1 fold.

Final Pot: t900

Results in white below:
No showdown. SB wins t900.

SB showed Q9s so I had him.

I know I'm supposed to try to make the money first which I did. i got 3rd because by the time I got to the money, I was short stacked and lost. I folded both hands because of the short stack but it pretty much doomed me to 3rd unless I got really lucky. Any question on these folds, particularly the first one?

many may disagree, but i would have all in'd with both hands...the first, the other guy would have probably folded or if called, you were probably ahead...the 2nd, the 2x bet by other guy was a weak raise probably, you had 2 nice face cards...all this would have probably put you in better shape to win 1st or 2nd...
but anyway, congrats on 3rd!

Definetely all-in both hands. 1:st hand figures to be a coin flip most of the time and with 40% of your stack in the post you can't say no. I'd just push immediatly instead of making a small raise, since my stack is so small. Against the SB you may very well be behind but with some luck both your cards are live, he could also be bluffing with something pathetic like J8 or fold to an all-in from you.

You've got 6BB left in the first hand -- no point in making a 3BB raise because you can't fold if reraised (well, you can, but you really shouldn't). Just push with a hand as good as 88.

Second hand I make the same fold -- button only has enough for one more round of blinds, so he'll likely be out soon.

the sb had 60% of his stack in the middle on the second hand so I don't think he could fold (unless he was so concerned with making the money like me).

The first hand, I raised that amount to try and say "i'll take on the short stack so you can fold" but the big stack minraised me which had me very concerned. He later said it was probably 50/50 so he either had a pp like me or AK or AQ.

I'm surprised so many people are advocating pushing with a short stack out there because the running theme here has always been to make the money first.

BTW, I played another one right after and got 2nd. I caught up to the big stack to only have a 400 deficit to him and then lost an all in coinflip with my 99 to his KT with a T on the flop.

Call me weak tight if you want, but I like those folds. I was in a similar situation stealing blinds twice yesterday, both time with A 10 actually, and I was minraised back both times. Well I took it as weak, and went all-in over the top both times, only to be shown AA and JJ. I think you kick yourself when he shows you Q 9o, but had he shown you AA, you would think it a good laydown. I can't see you being a head if you go all-in, and are called in the first hand. You are either going to be a coin flip or dominated, and I try to avoid coinflips at the bubble.

Norton, I'm confused about what you said about the first hand. The big stack min raised me to 1300 and I had 1800 total so he will not fold for another 500 chips in a pot that has over 3000+ in it. The BB is the short stack and folded hoping that I would go out. I may only be an underdog to 6 hands but I'm a coinflip to TONS of hands. The odds say I should call if I was already in the money but since I wasn't and still had a good chance to be if I folded, I took the safe way.