AKs played too weakly pre-flop in satellite?
 

Couple questions here. This is from the 500 FPP satellite played earlier this afternoon. 9 pay $215, 10th gets $0. I've played 3 so far and haven't gotten there yet. I always seem to run into something which makes me shortstacked, and I try to hang on but blind out. If I were to elaborate further, the bad beat police would arrest me for whining.

Anyway, I just got moved to this table two hands ago, so I have no reads on any of these players. I feel that I really need to double up, as the average is around T6500 and there are around 50 people left. I want to have a stack that is comfortable, T5400 is not enough to wait for aces or kings with.


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (9 handed)

saw flop

MP1 (t2520)
Hero (t5395)
MP3 (t1955)
CO (t3339)
Button (t18805)
SB (t8070)
BB (t2645)
UTG <font color="purple">(Villain)</font> (t9390)
UTG+1 (t4365)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="CC3333">UTG <font color="purple">(Villain)</font> raises to t400</font>, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to t1200</font>, MP3 folds, CO folds, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds, UTG <font color="purple">(Villain)</font> calls t800.

Here, I want to entice weaker aces to stay in, so if I hit my ace, I likely double up. My plan is to push on just about any flop, so even if he calls, I could still win a decent-sized pot if he folds to my push on the flop. And if I hit, even better. Is this thought process flawed? Should I have popped him with a bigger reraise and perhaps settled for whatever was in the pot? Does the minraise utg set off alarm bells here? It didn't for me, as I see this kind of play all the time with weak aces or medium pocket pairs.

More generally, in a satellite like this, in this middle stage, is it more important to build a comfortable chip stack [try to trap with AKs], or is it more important to survive until you're more certain you're getting your money in with the best of it [push with AKs and drive out the weak aces]? I'd say it's the former, as pushing could potentially result in a coinflip anyway. But maybe someone with more experience in these could elaborate.

Flop: (t2700) 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
Villain checks, Hero ???

Does the monotone and check flop set off alarm bells here? Do you dog the hand and wait for something more favorable or bet (by which I mean push, as any decent size bet would pretty much commit me)?

Thanks. Results in white:

<font color="white"> I push, he calls with the nut flush, A8d. Not surprisingly, I don't get a runner-runner boat. I didn't want to give him a free card if he had a lone diamond, and I figured he was just as scared of the diamonds as I was, and I would win a decent pot. I guess not. To be honest, I'll probably play this the same way on the flop as I did this time; they can't all have the nut flush. I'm really just wondering about the preflop raise and the general question. </font>

Re: AKs played too weakly pre-flop in satellite?
 

Well played. Next tourney. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Good raise pre-flop, and there's a nice pot there worth winning on the flop. Pushing in there will discourage him from calling with a bare A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] if he has it. Tough break.