$25,000 MTT - Playing AKo UTG with a short stack

[BigDan9]

MTT ($35 entry fee), 850 runners, top 90 paid, with $6,100 for 1st place.

I've drifted into the middle stages of the tournament (around 250 players left) with just 3,200 in chips and blinds at 150/300. I've decided that I really need to make some sort of a move soon.

UTG+1, I limp with AKo, one limps in on the button, as do both blinds. The flop is a load of low card rubbish, the big blind puts in a reasonable bet and I fold, deciding to wait for a better spot.

Following hand, I get AKo again (UTG this time) and decide to try the same tactic and call. The button raises to 1,200, the big blind (who has been playing like a bit of a donkey for some time) raises to 3,000 and I call (all-in). The button folds, the big blind shows AQo (woo hoo) and then beats my flopped straight by making a ridiculous full house on the turn and river (boo).

My point is not the bad beat, though, but to ask the following two questions:

1. Was it correct to decide that I needed to find a spot to double up if I possibly could? I thought that it was, as I still had a few chips, but not really enough to play a 'normal' game with.

2. Was limping with AKo in early position the right way to achieve that? My thinking was that I'd been playing quite tight up until that point (although mainly because my cards had been pretty useless) and a raise in first or second position was likely to scare off anybody with the low-medium pairs that I'd really like to to try to double up against. Anybody with, say TT-QQ or AQ-AJ, may well raise the hand for me and give me something close to a 50/50 chance to double up (by re-raising all-in).

What do you guys think?

[Beachman42]

Limping AK from any position with your stack is "sub-optimal" (a nicer word than retarded [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ). I'm pushing the first one & then the second one if I'm still around.

[kindling]

If you push AK from UTG+1 and UTG, you're ahead or flipping with almost everything that calls. Of course, you still only have A high if you don't hit the flop. If everyone folds and you pick up the blinds, great, it gives you another orbit to catch some playable cards or find a better spot.

You don't want to let yourself drift too much lower (<10BB), or your pushes won't have as much fold equity anyway. I think looking specifically for a double-up is dangerous, since you won't see anything better than AK often enough to make it worth waiting for.