Thought about just posting this to the "big river bet thread," since it's in the same genre, but it was on the flop here, so it's a bit different, since draws are likely.

Villain is not a bad player, but hasn't played $30 for long either... not enough games for a $30 point on his ROI% vs. Entry Fee graph. SS stats are:

2,484 games played (almost twice as much as me!), $1 average profit (same as me, due to all the $10 games I used to play), $6 average stake (lower than me), 12% ROI (higher than me overall, since I used to play drunk, but lower than my current stats at 20-30$), $1,594 Total Profit (about the same as me).

I was pretty sure I could take him, and was right, in the end, although he put a bad beat on me all in with AT vs. AK and I had to claw my way back into the lead and win with a bad beat of my own with A6 vs. A8.

This hand was about halfway through the tournament - it was nearing the end of the 40/80 blind level when I finally busted him. He was playing very tight-weak, so I was raising a lot, and I'm sure he was smart enough to notice. When he played back at me, it was usually to raise my CBs on flops like KQ6 two-suited. Whether that's because he was calling with mostly paint preflop and hitting TPWK-type hands on those flops, or just because he figured they hit his range stronger than mine and he could bluff, I don't know.

Anyway, what does this push mean from this guy? I think my fold has to be correct, as he's got tons of outs when I'm ahead, and I have few when I'm behind. Nonetheless, I'm curious about what this push means. Would I call it if I had A7 instead of A5? What if I had 65?

Despite what I said in the game, I'm not convinced it was just some random 6, though that is possible. I have a hunch I know his exact hand (not the suits, mind you), but I'll wait to let other people speculate before I hazard my guess.

Seat 1: Xopods (1,845)
Seat 2: minawebmas (1,155)
minawebmas posts the small blind of 25
Xopods posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Xopods [5d Ad]
minawebmas calls 25
Xopods checks
*** FLOP *** [7c 4d 5s]
Xopods bets 100
minawebmas raises to 1,105, and is all in
Xopods: hmmm
Xopods has 15 seconds left to act
Xopods: probably just a 6... but then you still have 13 outs
Xopods folds
Uncalled bet of 1,005 returned to minawebmas

My theory is 76. That's the only hand I'd consider making this ridiculous-looking push with. Why? Because anything stronger would probably flat call or make a normal raise, as you say, while a naked 6 probably calls and waits to see if I look weak on the turn before trying to push me off.

76, on the other hand, is ahead of a lot, but very vulnerable, while simultaneously having lots of outs against almost anything that beats it. Moreover, one of the important principles in poker is that you want your opponent to be the one making the difficult decisions, not you. Deciding what to do about that push is difficult for a lot of hands I could have... conversely, 76 is going to have a tough decision to make if I push back when he raises, or even more so if I flat call and the turn blanks for him.

You're right that it could also be two pair, getting paranoid about a bad beat coming up. Set, probably not. I'd say a set is calling and then either hammering a blank turn, or continuing to slowplay and looking to boat up on the river if a straight card lands.