AKs UTG pre flop decision

[aslowjoe]

500 NLHE 150 players 9 postions paid. Ave stack around 25,000. 16 players left.Moved into table about 10 hands ago. I have only 1 hand of VPIP which was the previous hand when I went all in pre flop and was not called. Blinds 800/1600 antes 100. 8 handed. Nobody on the table had over 30,000. BB had about 15,000 sb similar.

I have about 11,000
AKs UTG.
My initial thought was to raise to 5000. After thinking about it I decided all in was better since I was pretty much pot commited anyway. Which was correct?

Where is the breaking point between going all in and raising 5000?

Also I should mention that most of the players were better then I. Lots of top notch pro's who had been bounced from the main event and I am relatively new to MTT poker.

[schwza]

i'd say about 22k is the cross-over between raise and push. i'd raise to 4.5k with 22k.

With your M at less than 4, I would push, just hate pushing 2 hands in a row, so I can see an argument for putting in say half your stack (the same as a push, since it obviously means your getting them allin). This also looks a little more deceptive after a push, opponents start thinking uh oh, this time he actually has something that he wants action with.

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
With your M at less than 4, I would push, just hate pushing 2 hands in a row, so I can see an argument for putting in say half your stack (the same as a push, since it obviously means your getting them allin). This also looks a little more deceptive after a push, opponents start thinking uh oh, this time he actually has something that he wants action with.

[/ QUOTE ]

for most hands that are close enough to be swung either way, you want action.

I'm happy to take the blinds, as this will increase my M by 1 and am also pleased to double up here. I still bet half my stack. If you want absolute action, then you push, since this looks more like the shorty pushing any two, 2 hands in a row.

[aslowjoe]

Thanks for the reply. I was prety sure it was the correct move but I wasn't exactly sure where the breking point was.

Also in this case it might have been better to raise to 5000 as I was called by JJ and a k came on the flop then a J on the river. So I might have been letting the results 2nd guess my thinking.

I love pushing AK when people are likely to look me up. Why would you avoid that? If it is the second hand in a row someone might look you up with Ax and you have them dominated. Worst case scenario they look you up and you are a slight dog to medium pocket pairs.