When to limp in and when to charge

[Spree]

I'm asking this because since i'm new i'm playing in lower stakes MT tourneys. But the last five that i've played in I've always made top 10% but only made the money once. I'm overall up so far by about double. But in a few of these tourneys I'll be near the fringe of the payout line but I'll come into a situation where I have a very good opportunity to move up signifigantly but most of the time it requires me to risk being out.

Case in point most recently. I'm in a 2+.25 tourney and I'm in 23rd out of 36 left. Top 20 get paid. Preflop I'm on the button with AK offsuit. Blinds are 400/800 and I have 12k chips. So I call the BB after one person called. SB goes all in with more than me. BB calls. The original caller goes all in. So I figure that this is an opportunity to go from 23rd to first since this pot is already more than the overall leader has.

I lose to 10 10 and am out. Is this a mistake?

11-20th only wins 2.80 so thats barely more than money back and first gets like 180+ am I looking at this wrong? Should I wait longer to make my move?

[whiskeytown]

limping with big hands, esp. AK is usually a mistake.

Only time I limp is if I'm short stacked and desperate for a double up - then I'll take the gamble the flop hit someone and they'll push in for me... - otherwise I raise and if all I get are the blinds...no sweat.

RB

[Spree]

So you think my all in was a good play? Or are you saying that it's good but I should have done it on my initial bet?

[magiluke]

That's no good... you don't wanna go in with AK against 3 other hands, especially if you think that there may be a pocker pair or two out there... You can pretty much assume that some of your outs are taken away from the two of the hands...

[Spree]

the other two were k q and q j

[magiluke]

Well, yea, even if just one king was taken, that hurts your chances quite a bit. If I were in that situation, I would assume 2-4 outs taken away, and would fold every single time.