OK, I'm at work and don't have the HH, but here's the relevant details...

Blinds are 8K/16K 1K ante

I'm in the SB with AKo my stack is 180K so my M is ~5-6

UTG with 500K opens for 50K

MP with 200K shoves

MP shortstack (50K) calls

all folds to me

Hero ???

It's been push or fold time in this tourney for quite a while so it was hard to get reads. There were very few standard raises and I hadn't noticed UTG raising many pots. We are well into the money, so it's go big or go home time. Can I go in with this hand and this action?

I think it would be difficult to make a convincing case for a fold here. I call for sure. Shortstack-MP is basically irrelevant, bigstack-MP has a hand, but it is unlikely that he has you crushed (and you might even dominate him). UTG is a ?, but your hand is so strong, that you just have shove it in and look what happens, in my opinion.

Agreed, take the shot here and hope UTG doesn't wake up with AA or KK. I think you're up against 2 worse hands, but that may be just wishful thinking.

Chance to go from $160K to $450K. Gotta take the risk if you want to win the thing.

Agree completely, gotta play to win. Chances are you are facing a pair or two but with the money in the pot you can't lay AK down.

Shove and go for the glory. AQ is a fold here but I'm getting it in with AK.

this situation sucks pretty much, but i can't think of a good result that comes from folding, you're short on chips and MP probably has a pretty wide range as he doesn't have much more than you, and the shortstack's call is pretty much irrelevant, so you have to take your chances and probably expect to have to beat 3 other hands as UTG is being laid a big price here

Short of their being a huge jump in winnings by sitting this out and letting someone else bust out....shove it in and spike the ace.

What about KK, QQ or JJ ?

I shove KK/QQ and fold JJ

i would probably play the J-J...A-Q is still a fold though

It's a shove, when it's push of fold most people will shove A10 or better, so you're likely to have them dominated, worst case you're flipping coins with one or more. But yeah, you gotta play to win, it's definitely worth it to shove here.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I need to work on my late game some more. I ended up folding and UTG folded as well. MP that had me covered showed JJ and the shortstack had AT. The ace on the river would have given me a 500K pot.

I think normally you'll see a PP and and Ax in these ahnds. Does knowing you likely are a least one out down make much difference??

I think I'd rather know that an an opponent has a weaker ace, less live cards for him, sure you've lost one Ace out, but you still have all your kings, running into a PP is worst case, in a tourney this big you have to have faith in your preemo hands, luck favors the bold!