Basically this is a spot I always seem to get myself in trouble, and I've been trying to evaluate my play recently with an icm calculator to try and work out if I'm pushing and 3-bet pushing in +EV situations. Now I have an example, but this is about more than this specific hand, I'm not worried that this particular time I ran into Queens but that given the situation was my action profitable normally.

pokerstars Game #65711024472: Tournament #424747636, $6.37+$0.63 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2011/08/08 16:50:18 WET [2011/08/08 11:50:18 ET]
Table '424747636 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: kazauma (4089 in chips)
Seat 2: mamooc (2790 in chips)
Seat 3: Alex Fowler (1973 in chips)
Seat 7: MajorSpell (2473 in chips)
Seat 9: GRECU1935 (2175 in chips)
kazauma: posts small blind 75
mamooc: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Alex Fowler [9h 9d]
Alex Fowler: raises 1823 to 1973 and is all-in
MajorSpell: folds
GRECU1935: folds
kazauma: calls 1898
mamooc: folds
*** FLOP *** [2d 3h 8s]
*** TURN *** [2d 3h 8s] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [2d 3h 8s 6d] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kazauma: shows [Qd Qc] (two pair, Queens and Eights)
Alex Fowler: shows [9h 9d] (two pair, Nines and Eights)
kazauma collected 4096 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4096 | Rake 0
Board [2d 3h 8s 6d 8c]
Seat 1: kazauma (small blind) showed [Qd Qc] and won (4096) with two pair, Queens and Eights
Seat 2: mamooc (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Alex Fowler showed [9h 9d] and lost with two pair, Nines and Eights
Seat 7: MajorSpell folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: GRECU1935 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

No real reads, nothing massively out of line has occurred up until this point other than villain has been limping and flating a few times.

According to the ICM calculator results : http://www.holdemresources.net/hr/sn...6=&s7=&s8=&s9= 99 isn't strong enough to jam, however being 5 handed surely 99 is too strong to open fold even utg, however 2.1x ish seems bad to me too because if I'm called I could be oop and facing over cards, I cant afford the chips to be testing the water with a cont bet, also with a 2-2.5x raise if I'm 3 bet shoved on I guess I would probably have to call (Is this better than my jam being called?).

I've played 5-10 sng's last 2 days and repeatedly run med pair into large pair or medium a into larger a 5 handed and without wanting to be results orientated want to know if I have just had a few unlucky games or have a leak in over valuing medium pairs and medium aces (like a9 / a10) short handed and relatively short stacked.

oh and i know 5-10 is nowhere near a big enough sample to draw conclusions from :P