Stacking off with AKo in the $2.50+$.25 SNGs

The hand went like this:
very early in the SNG someone raises to 4x UTG
I 3-bet with AKo to 25x
he pushes, I call

is this EV+? In general, is anyone at this SNG level pushing AQo?

[Stripclubjunkie]

I play at 3.4$ on stars and have definately seen some crazy moves...Not sure i'd put my life on the line with AK...

strip

[mikeneron]

Why not just call and see a flop? If he has any pair you are flipping at best.

[drmcboy]

why would you 3bet to 25x?

raise to about 10x, keeps a lot more hands around that you dominate

And you can shove the flop if you want.

typo, I raised to 15x

[taipan168]

What position are you in? If you are in LP or the blinds I would be tempted to just flat call and see a flop. 3-betting is not bad but without a solid read that opp is very LAGG I prefer to just flat call.

Once you 3-bet, however, you really can't fold to the shove.

I was in MP
What is the rationale of flatting here? Because we're behind his range?

[taipan168]

I was in MP
What is the rationale of flatting here? Because we're behind his range?

If you are in EP or MP, or there are cold caller(s) in front, I would definitely re-raise to try to either take it down preflop or get HU on the flop. In LP without a cold caller, the logic behind flatting is that if we 3-bet, we pretty much have to call a shove and from an ICM perspective I am not sure that getting it AI early in the tourney with AKo against an UTG raiser without a solid read is a good idea. Therefore, if we flat and get it AI on an A/K high flop we can get away from the hand if we don't hit with only 8% of our stack invested.

[mukaka]

The logic behind flat calling is..

a)People love to play Ax early on.. If you don't flat call and re-raise big, the weak Ax hands that you dominate will go away.. They also love to stack off with top pair weak kickers.. Therefore the chances of you stacking someone off also decreases..

b) Playing AK fast in the early levels pre-flop is not so good equity wise.. Because you can get all-in against a pocket pair to flip your tournament life for too small blinds..

I only shove AK when there are more callers of the original raise and pot gets big enough to be worth it..

[oskar]

I think flat-calling is not so bad here, you'll have a well disguised hand. If he has something like AT+, then you have a well disguised hand and you might stack him on the right flop. Also AK is the easiest hand to play post-flop whether you hit it or not. As played I think you need to call. The ranges at this level are pretty wide for the average player.