While I agree with most of ong's analysis, you can't be folding 22 pre in a 3-handed game against no pressure pre-flop. Your range is too tight to beat the rapid blinds if you're folding 22's when 3-handed.

Set-mining is always a valid tactic if you can see a flop for cheap and your opponents are likely to call at least 1 decent-sized bet, often more than 1.


Risking all-in on the first hand of a knock-out event is going to cause you more grief than joy, IMO.
If it's about more than winning... if it's about spending the time playing a game with friends... then I may even more strongly hesitate to risk getting knocked out of the game on the first hand.


Open shoving with 22 preflop is fine in HU play when blinds are high. If you get to a point where you are willing to flip a coin on one hand whether you stay or go... then that's the time to make a move like this. It's not about winning this hand, so much as it's about being unlikely to get another hand as good as this before you're out of chips to capitalize on it.