50/50 situations in tournies. Please help.

[dlode]

I want some feedback on 50/50 situations in tournament poker.I was playing in a live $500 tournament today with about 62 runners, which I had won entry to. Anyway, with about 27 people left,2 and a half hrs in, and with the BB at 700 and SB at 350 and with the average chip count at 14000 chips I find myself under the gun with AK offsuit.I have around 12500 chips. I raise 4000 immediately (yeah, I know,probably too much of a raise) and the guy next to me goes all in. He has the same amount of chips as me,more or less. Everyone folds and it comes round and I call. He turns up 9-9. I catch nothing and bust out of tourney. In the 2 and a half hrs of play I had gone with these 50/50 situations three times. Once with my 9-9 against AK, which I won (ironically) and once with 10 10 against AJ (the other guy with AJ was short stacked so I called his all in raise.
This is the question. Is it bad play to force these situations? I know you have to come through a few of these in most tournies to build a stack, but some people on my table with decent chip counts never got themselves into these situations once. Should I have folded with my AK when the guy went all in even tho I put him on a low pair, which he had? What is the best strategy in these situations in tournies

[Paul2432]

If you are pretty sure he does not have AA or KK then a call is mandatory. You're getting around 3:1 on a little worse than 50:50. That is a huge overlay you cannot pass up. It will usually be the case that there is enough extra money in the pot that you have to play a 50:50.

Note that it is much better to be the bettor in these situations, because there is some chance your opponent might fold.

For more discussion, I suggest posting in one of the tournament forums.

Paul

[challenger84]

Please learn the meaning of the work ironically before you ever use it again, k thx.