I think it was Harrington who said just because you have a good hand doesnt mean you have to play it.

I have employed this a number of times in tournaments - where I know I can be effective with the chips I have - but I dont want to be in a situation where I could lose a chunk on race situations.

Consider the following:

I have just been on a blind stealing rampage to get myself back into a game I was starting to lose. I was just caught isolating a short stack and showed down a weak hand for a win.

Now I am in MP with a hand like 88 - 99 and even 10-10. There are some monster stacks behind me who are perceptive and can play well. In poker I want to be the aggressor preflop or outplay someone after the flop. I know if I raise 4-5x bb with this hand there is a high probability that one of the good players behind me will make me decide for all my chips. Therefore - I am forced to call an all-in, rather than push all-in. In this situation I would rather be in late position pushing all in with 78s (with high probability that my opponent can fold) than calling an all-in from EP or MP with 8-8.

Now this is very specific to who is playing behind me. Some times it is delightful to have this situation - where you get a great hand after showing down a weak hand. You can often set a trap with a pair of 99s by putting in a small raise and waiting for someone to make a move - but it depends on what the move is. A weak player will take your 3x bet and raise about half the pot or less - but this timidness allows you to push back over the top, hence becoming the aggressor.

A good player in this situation will make your decision very tough, essentially know that you are all-in or folding.

So it really depends on your read of the table and if you are entering the pot - are you willing to put all your chips in? Even with a hand like AK - I dont want to be put out of a table I have a good read on, by having a player with 10J push me all-in - because I am not far enough ahead in this situation to warrant a call vs. a push.

Again this is always situational. BUT, I do believe that just because you have a good hand in a tournament doesn't mean you have to play it.

I am sure there will be many odds based ppl who will say I am not playing good poker if I dont want to put my tournament on AK vs 10J - but everyone has their own way of playing - which makes this game great.