very tough tournament laydown...going for the win

[t-bone 0]

I'm in my regular thusday $30 freeze-out, 80 guys this time around. Top 10 pay. I usually love to really shoot up the tournaments, and play ver aggressively, but this time around I just couldn't. I caught a terrible run of cards.. I didn't play the first 25 hands, I've never done that before. I was the ultimate "tighty" at the table. Then I caught QTs otb and open-raised, then took the pot down on the flop of Axx. Not that this has anything to do with the hand in question I just wanted everyone top know that I can play tight if I have to.Anyways, here's the hand. I'm in the bb with $4500, blinds are 200/400. Weak ep player goes allin for 1200, sb reraises allin to 3500, also a fairly weak player. I look down at AKo, deliberate for a sec, then muck 'em. Ep turns over A4o, sb turns over KQo. I wouldve won the whole pot. Was this a good laydown? I thought so at the time, but I was going for the win, not just final table. What would you do in that situation?

[CoreyBrown 0]

I am one to fully believe that laying down AK vs 2 other people isn't that bad of an idea. But lets look at some things.The very small all in vs the large all in. You can consider the very small all in a throw away, if that person has the goods then it will cost you 1k, but that is not what you are after. You are after the huge side pot which is heads up. You have a chance at getting 2k out of that, and heads up with AK is about as good as the next thing. Specially for someone saying they are trying to win this and accumulate chips early. This is a great chance to.

[Wilderness 0]

Well, since you figured them both for weak players, then maybe you shouldn't have made the lay-down but its still pretty hard. I would have easily called the first all in with that hand, and I'm sure you would as well. Its the second all-in that creates the problem. Now, if the 2nd guy is a good player, I figure him for one of the big pairs (QQ-AA) and I'll let him hash it out with the short-stack. There's a chance the 2nd guy has something like AK, but I think you should still lay it down if he's a good player. Now, if you think the guy is a weak player, then there is a wide variety of hands that he could hold and it makes it harder to lay down. Since your strategy is to accumulate chips and try to get a big stack, then given your opinion on your opponents as weak (which was correct when that guy showed KQ) I think you should have called the all-in. Still, its a tough decision so I don't think you can really kick yourself too hard for not doing it.

[FromTheRail 0]

I have to agree with your laydown of A-K in this spot. The first all-in would have been an automatic call. The player was short stacked and had to play a hand to double up soon or be blinded away. However, when the second person moved all in for his remaining chips you had to make him for at least a pair in that situation. In the case one of the two players would have had a wired pair you would be at best a 53 - 47 underdog in a pot where you were getting less than 2 -1 for your money. If you look at it in this way, your laydown was a very good play.

[pokerplayer75 0]

if I figured the first person had a low pair and under and the other person had KQ I'd be about 30-35 % to win with AK. To win 5000 with 3500 I'd always go for it. The only way I wouldn't is if I was sure that somebody had kings or aces.