$20 NL tournament on UB.

5 minutes before the first break I have been moved to the table where the chip leader is. He has about T9000; I have an average stack of T2000. In the five minutes before the break the chipleader bullies the table and raises big with substandard hands. He is also not afraid to call a raise with a marginal hand and raise someone off a hand postflop. In short, a very LAG player.

First hand after the break (blinds are 50/100), I have 99 in the BB. Sure enough, the chipleader (in MP raises to T300). A short stack (T900) in LP goes allin. What do you do? I folded, only to see the chipleader flip over 66 and the short stack 77.
I folded because I felt it was a fold or allin, since calling would put me in a difficult position on a flop with overcards, being out of position against an aggressive opponent.

After this hand I'm not catching cards for a couple of rounds, and most hands are raised,. so no chance to steal anything. I raise with AJ in the cutoff once, but the BB puts me allin and I have to fold.

Down to T1000, blinds 100/200. Chipleader and former shortstack are still battling eachother and they are involved in at least 50% of the hands. I have AQs in the SB, and the chipleader (about T6000) raises to 500. Former shortstack (now T7000) calls. What do you do here?

I called - probably a stupid play here. But I figured that an A or Q on the flop would be triple me up, given the weak hands that these guys were playing. And if I missed, I still had two rounds to live.

Flop is A94 rainbow, as I hoped it would be. I move in, chipleader moves in with KK, and LP calls with AK. Lp wins pot and takes two people out.

General question: how do you survive as a short stack when you feel that there is almost no fold equity, and when many hands are raised? How do you respond when two players are battling eachother and try to outplay eachother on almost every hand?

Pieter

I would have folded the 99 too and I would have pushed all in with AQ instead of calling. Unfortunately, you were losing it anyway.

When you have such a short stack, luck comes into play much more and you need to be aggressive and hope to win blinds or get one caller and double up. You can't wait and you need to make something happen so you can't be too picky with what hand you do it with.

With opponents like you had, you have to put their bets into perspective and still push with your good hands because they are likely pushing with less.