I'm heads up on a $100 SNG with a very inconsistant player. Not very good considering he's at the $100 level.... he'd probably be well above average but not excellent at the $10 or $20 tables.

It's heads-up and I have 2500 chips, he has 7500. I pick up two decent cards and push in, he calls with an ace and I'm a 40/60 underdog. I win the hand, and we're even.

The guy starts chatting stuff like "what the f.u.*.*." and "that was total bull" and "what were you doing with that hand anyway". I think I had like K8 or something, so I wasn't playing poorly.

He's still whining and I pick up A5o. He pushes all in, more quickly than normal. Now I don't normally even consider calling an all in with 5000 chips, A5, and 150-300 blinds. On the other hand, I think that this guy might have nearly a random hand given his current state of mind and general not-so-good play. I figure that some of the time he will have me dominated with a pocket pair or better ace, but it's much more likely that I'm a 60/40 favorite to win the hand. So I called.

Now, I'm 100% certain that I made a mistake, because I have 150% as many 1sts as 2nds anyway, so a 60/40 isn't even really that good even if I knew for sure that I wasn't dominated. Stupid. But lets discuss the merits or lack-therof of playing a heads up hand with very large blinds in a tournament by taking a strong read on your opponent, with the alternative of just playing "optimally" without changing your play in regards to who your opponent is.

By the way, the guy had 99 and was laughing all the way to the bank when I didn't hit my ace.

I think if you would've had a stronger kicker with your ace, it would've been an "okay" call... I like it better as a pushing hand than a calling hand... I think that there's a better than average chance he had a pair higher than 5 or a bigger ace... Almost no matter what he had, he had 2 cards higher than a 5... Even if he has a King, it's probably got a 10+ kicker, which basically makes it a crapshoot... WIth the blinds not killing you, I think that you can find a better chance than 60/40 at best, like you said...

I play $100SNGs... where do you play...? I'm sure I've probably gotten smoked by you a dozen times and didn't even know it...

hehe, who knows? Maybe you smoked me.... I play mostly on Party, very occasionally on Pacific, even more rarely on a couple of other sites. I don't really like giving out my screenname.

Glad you agree with me about that hand... dang i could have played that better.

To me the all in push screams big PP. He knows you are capable of calling a lot of hands so he has something.
He makes a "call this MTF" move.

I actually had him on JJ or higher.

Oh well second is ok.