Villain has been aggressive, and although his stack doesn't look that menacing at this table, he is about 2x average and has been bullying smaller stacks.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FCP)

saw flop

MP3 (t47613)
CO (t32804)
Button (t78211)
SB (t77460)
Hero (t24285)
UTG (t26280)
UTG+1 (t30394)
MP1 (t92497)
MP2 (t50945)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A , 5 .
6 folds, Button raises to t2400, 1 fold, Hero calls t1200.

Flop: (t4200) A , K , T (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t2400, Hero calls t2400.

Turn: (t9000) T (2 players)

What's my line?

I would have raised on the flop, probably 2.5 to 3x his bet. At that point you have to be a favorite to win the hand. Sinc eyou didn't I would check with the intention of putting in a check raise here. you just caught up to any better aces except AK and AT.

Maybe here's another way to play it...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (9 handed)

MP3 (t47613)
CO (t32804)
Button (t78211)
SB (t77460)
Hero (t24285)
UTG (t26280)
UTG+1 (t30394)
MP1 (t92497)
MP2 (t50945)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A , 5 .
6 folds, Button raises to t2400, 1 fold, Hero re-raises to t8000, Button calls t5600.

Flop: (t4200) A , K , T (2 players)
Hero goes all-in for t16285

I would have check/raised the flop - flush draw/straight draw has to be in his mind but he probably doens't have you on an ace since you just called preflop and you could easily be ahead post-flop.

Any reads on what the min-raise preflop means for villain?

At this point, if I've taken your line to this point - I bet the turn as the way you've played it, a ten is a very possible holding in your hand. With the nut flush and Ace outs, I'm playing to showdown as my M would be getting close to 10 if I let this hand go.

I c/r - push the flop

edit... well....Tourney maybe not... ahh... yeah..probably still

i had a feeling many would advise a c/r on the flop. what amount can i c/r that doesn't commit me to the pot in the villain's mind? in all likelihood, i'm going to scare him away, and i definitely don't want to do that. i want to get all his chips in the middle.

villain's min-raise doesn't mean anything to me. i think he's trying to steal cheaply, meaning his range is almost any two cards.

that's a pretty draw heavy board, and not just for your nut flush.
I wouldn't mind scaring him off.

But you want to manipulate this situation for a big chance at getting in better pos to FT ?

ok... I of no use wth MTT... jsut learning.

I think leading out on the flop has a better chance of getting more money in the pot than the way you played it. Howard Lederer sent me an e-mail earlier today pointing out a good reason why not to slowplay a hand, showing how leading out will probably get you more money in the long run.

Ok- I understand being greedy, but that is already a big pot, and there are cards that can still beat you. I want to take that pot down now. I bet big, and probably like you said I c/r big on the flop.

This hand is not strong enough to slow play on that flop. You need to define your spot. Just becuase villian raises a lot on the button does not mean he can't wake up with AK once in a while. Why not scare him away? There is 10k in the middle, and 20k in your stack. That is a 50% bump in your stack size.

In addition, a big raise means you don't have to show down your hand. He will be unsure if you really had him beat, and be more wary of trying to steal your blinds. Your tournament goal is to get him to stop trying to steal your blinds. To me, that is more valuable at this point then the other 10k in tournament chips.

The way you played it is very dangerous, But my guess is that if the villian is a stone bluff, you will not likely get any more chips out of him. The only way chips are going into the pot is if he has as good a hand as you or better.

i had a hand just like this in your positon. i called the turn and folded the river when a blank came up

I should've been clearer in my description of where we were in the tourney. We were into the money, but only just. There were something like 120 people left at this point, and my ONLY goal in this hand after I saw the flop was to double through or bust. At this stage in tournaments, I'm looking to accumulate and become some kind of threat or get out. How do I get the most money into the pot?

See my previous comments - Lead out on the flop to the pre-flop raiser...

Unless the villain is stupid-aggressive like me, I don't think leading the flop is the line that gets the most money here. The most dangerous flop for a steal-raiser is one that includes an ace. By and large, leading the flop will get worse hands to fold and better hands to call/raise, IMO. This is the exact opposite of what MK wants.

Check/call the flop and check-raise the turn. I would be somewhat worried if he calls the check-raise, however.

I'm not sure I agree totally with that. This thread ties into the other current thread discussing what to do when an opponent defends almost every blind and leads into you, except the situation is reversed and we are the one defending. The OP called the villain agressive, and described his play as bullying the small stacks. That sounds good enough for me (kinda like C is for cookie...) to put a weak lead bet into him, enticing him to come over the top, where we slam him.

In my original OP to this post, I mentioned an e-mail Howard Lederer sent me regarding not slow-playing a monster hand. While this isnt exactly a monster, it is strong enough IMO to utilize the same philosophies. I suggest that anyone who has not seen that tip from Howard check it out at FTP. Here's a snippet, which I am sure many can extrapolate the gist into this post...

If he bets on the turn and you raise, you're signaling that the turn card helped you. In effect, you're saying that you liked the flop enough to call and the turn improved your hand in some way. You're announcing that you can beat one pair.

So the flop very well may be the only time when your opponent is willing to make a stand with a single pair. If he bets the flop of Qh 8h 2d and you raise, he's likely to think that you're semi-bluffing -- raising on a flush draw. At that point, he might feel compelled to protect his hand with large re-raise or perhaps an all in. When this happens, you'll take down a monster pot.

Rocket,

in your example from Ledderer, we are in pos.
big difference

while I agree that position is always key, it is the play that is important here.

right.
And here we can't raise his lead.
We either lead of check-raise

So...tell me again how we use Ledderer's advice?

as I indicated above, we put a weak lead-out bet out there. Our agressive opponent if they have anything will most likely raise, allowing us to re-raise/push. The positions are different than Lederer's example, but the play is the same - showing your aggression on the flop rather than the turn should put more of their chips in the pot on average, and I think leading into the agressor rather than check-raising will also garner more of their chips getting into the middle.

ok.
I see what your trying to say.

its crystal clear in my head, but as usual may have gotten lost in the translation from brain to fingertips

Okay, good discussion so far. I'll give you guys the results now because they're kind of funny. I wanted to post this hand because I see people check raising all the time in MTTs when their opponent isn't committed to the pot. I hate it. If I c/r at any point in this hand, he gives up.

I check the turn, he bets t6000. I just call again. I want him to keep dumping chips. Like Jadaki said, I'm chopping with most aces now. River comes a blank. I check again, he fires enough to put me all in. I call, and he shows 86o.

stories a lot better when villan has 33 and rivers a set.

sorry MK, I just don't agree.

hence one of the reasons I hardly ever advocate a check-raise, however, I'm not sure I agree with your logic with this particular hand. Good result none-the-less...

ok..let me amend this..
if you want to dbl or bust against an overly aggressive player, then ok...
but i don't think it's worth it to slow play..so maybe I disagree with premise, not execution
but ignore my MTT posts, just posting to learn
and harass rocket

No, I have no problem with people hating this play. I'm sure most do, because it's pretty self-destructive, albeit willfully. You should've seen the comments from people at the actual table, lol.

But my justification is the prize structure. With 120-ish people left, we don't see significant money until 111 or so are eliminated. I can sit around and wait for my KK to get cracked by AQ, but the difference between only making $25 vs. $46 means nothing to me. If I want to have any reasonable shot to win, I'm gonna have to start accumulating some chips.

Interesting discussion so far, but am I really the only person who'd re-raise PF?

Yes probably, he's going to see a flop with a lot of hands and our hands sucks to put a 1/3 of our chips in and then give him decent odds to chase whatever piece of the flop he hit.