First hand of a sit and go, flop decision

[Gronk]

Very first hand of a $5 + 1 SNG on party.

Blinds are 10/15. Everyone has 800 in chips.

I get dealt A /images/graemlins/diamond.gifK /images/graemlins/heart.gif in EP. One limper to me and I raise to 80. 3 callers.

320 total in the pot.

The flop is 4 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif6 /images/graemlins/heart.gif6 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif. Checked to me. Do I push? Why or why not? It's party, I'm 90% sure I'll be called but that doesn't mean I'm beat at this point.

[Lori]

You give it up, a good player with 720 chips is favorite over a nutjob with 800.

If you don't want to give it up, you could try some bet that won't cripple you (80 maybe) to try a half steal/half buy a free one.
I don't favour that play, but a push is scary stuff.

Lori

[Marcotte]

I try very hard not to get all in on the first hand unless I have the nuts. I'd even throw AKos away preflop to a push. I'm not looking for a coin flip right off the bat. There will be plenty of opportunities later.

In this situation, it's unclear how many have checked in front of you. If you are last to act (ie limper and blinds called pf), then I'd probably take the free card if I thought they would auto-check to raiser. If I bet (say there were 2 checkers ahead of me and one more to act after), I don't think I'd push, for the reasons listed above. I'd probably bet about 150-200, but that might be weak-tight.

I should say I've never played on Party, so I'm not familiar with playing with such a small starting stack. (We start with T1500 at the PokerRoom $10+1's /images/graemlins/grin.gif)

[willperkins]

I check, if someone bets, I fold, especially on Party 5/1. I have nothing but two overcards and a backdoor flush draw and I figure I'm beat and will save my chips for when I have something to battle with.

[reecelights]

Why push on the first hand with an unmade one? Yeah, there's 320, but you're only down 80. It looks like there were 2 callers after you. Either of them could have a low to mid Pocket Pair.

You can't win the tourney on the first hand. Double up when you have a made hand. Also, take 10 hands to learn who you're playing against so if you want to push with AK, you know who you're dealing with.