Help with a tricky hand

[Pyroxene]

Hello there.

I was in an MTT yesterday and had a tricky hand. I would like to know how others would have played it.

Situation: 1850 people to start, down to 56 people left. I am sitting at 5th with about 85,000 chips. Immediately to me left is the tournament leader with about 130,000 chips. Blinds are 1500/3000 with a 100 or 150 ante.

The tournament leader has been using a very consistent betting pattern for the last 20 hands. He goes in to a llittle more than 1/2 the hands. He fires off a 4xBB. If everyone folds, the blinds are his. If he gets raised, he calls. If he gets raised to All-In, he may call or fold. On the flop, assuming he has position, if the caller checks then he puts them All-In. If the caller bets less than All-In, he puts them All-In. If the caller goes All-In he may call or fold. This includes several All-In calls on the flop where all he had was Ace high. Between the steals and wins he was more than making up for the losses. Judging from what went to showdown, he would do this with any pair, Ax, Kx, Qx, any two face, any connectors. He followed this pattern even with large stacks, having done it several times to stacks that were nearly half of his.

I am the BB with AK, posting a 3,000 blind. He is UTG and fires off 12,000. Everyone folds to me. I figure that if I am not going to defend AK then I should stop playing poker. But, at the same time I am a little worse than a coin toss to any pair. I opt to see the flop so I call.

The flop comes J K J, rainbow.

If I check or bet any less than All-In, he will put me All-In. If I go All-In, he will call or fold; and he may call with a lot of hands that I have beat.

So, what would you all do? Pot is around 25,000; I have 73,000; he has 118,000.

[Corey]

Well did he ever show his hands during these blind steals?

With AK I might have pushed back all in. and hope for the best pre flop.

Touph call. I would have called. but if you folded you got to love to see another card.

[Radashack]

check, see where you are, if he checks he hit a jack. if he bets its a toss up between BS and a made hand or a draw. Sounds like you have a read on the guy. Most likely I CR this situation.

[Radashack]

pushing preflop with that kind of stack and position in the tourney is a mistake... its ok to gamble, but AK isn't a solid hand, see your flop to give yourself an opportunity to lay it down, as opposed to drawing against a maniac.

[Pyroxene]

Well did he ever show his hands during these blind steals?

With AK I might have pushed back all in. and hope for the best pre flop.

Touph call. I would have called. but if you folded you got to love to see another card.

A fair number of these hands went to showdown, he always had a pair, Ax, Kx, Qx, any two face, or connectors.

[Radashack]

so what was the outcome?

[Pyroxene]

Well, my thinking was:

If he had AA, KK or any J then he had me. If he had AQ then he had 7 outs and I could make the pot odds bad for that. If he had QT then he had 8 outs and I could still make the pot odds bad. Pretty much anything else he would not have more than 3 outs.

So I pushed All-In and he called with Q J.

Turn and River were no help so I was out. Judging from your responses I am comfortable with my call.

[Radashack]

knowing your oppoenent is a great thing, but if you are not going to respect that knowledge its does you no good. given what you told me I would have checked... chances are he would extract value from trips and check, at this point I would stab, get re-raised and fold my hand out.

[FlyingSaucy]

I'd push all in on the flop. Can't let him own the table just because he's big stack and being pushy. And of course you can't assume he's got the J. This would be a good opportunity to let the action revolve around you for a change.

Edit: Damn, he did have the J. Unfortunately I still think pushing back is the best play.

[Obertray]

"pushing preflop with that kind of stack and position in the tourney is a mistake... its ok to gamble, but AK isn't a solid hand,"

I think your right about the position, stack etc. ... but AK is a powerful all in hand pre flop, I thought that was standered thinking. At least this is what I have read in a notable book on tournament play ... is your advice specific to this hand(position stack sizes etc.) or are you say that AK is not worth pushing all in pre flop, in general?