Question Re. Pushing PF

[Morbo]

Mid-early stages in a multitable. Blinds are 150/300 and I have about 6k, just about average.

In the CO, I find AK. An MP who has me covered raises to T2500. I just got moved to this table and I barely have any reads but from what I see he is quite aggressive.

I think for a moment, then I push. I find that the chances that he might be a dog weights out the facts that we are likely to be at a flip. I thought the chances he held AA/KK as small but he calls and turns over KK. I don't find the ace and I'm going home.

I sat there, staring at the screen, and I started thinking. Had I called instead of pushed, there would be pretty much 4 different outcomes:

1: Flop hits me, he bets. This is the best situation I guess.

2: Flop hits me, he checks, followed by my bet and his fold. This would be the worst situation, where I would miss out the most compared to pushing preflop.

3: Flop misses, he bets. Often an easy fold and I'm still in the tournament.

4: Flop misses, he checks. I could either take the free card, or try to buy the pot. As a sidenote, considering this situation, what would you do?

Seeing these options, 3 out of 4 is relatively positive for me, is calling the better option here?

Thanks for your thoughts and replies.

[z32fanatic]

With him raising to about 8x the BB, I would probably fold this. If you had about T3000 or so, I could see pushing it, but you are right on the average. I wouldn't want to risk my tournament on a coin flip at best. If I have AK and lots of chips, I will usually just limp in or call a small raise. This lets me get away from the hand cheaply if necessary. I'm no expert but those are my thoughts.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

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2: Flop hits me, he checks, followed by my bet and his fold. This would be the worst situation, where I would miss out the most compared to pushing preflop.

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You think it's a good thing that you managed to get all the money in as a 3:1 dog? Just because you hit? That's pure hindsight thinking.

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3: Flop misses, he bets. Often an easy fold and I'm still in the tournament.

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I don't EVER put in half my chips preflop, and then fold. Or, pretty much almost never, and never by plan.

Your all-in was fine, as long as you had good reason to believe he did not hold AA or KK. Especially if there's a reasonable chance he's holding a worse non-paired hand, such as AQ.

later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)