This is the situation that knocked me out of the last two MTTs. What would you do?
I'm a close to the average chip stack (say 3000), a little more than 1/3 of the field is left. It isn't long before the blinds get to 100/150. I get dealt AK and preflop someone goes all-in (either has me covered, or enough chips to cripple me with a loss). I'm mostly certain he has a pocket pair, likely less than Ks.
A win and I'm in good position to go far. A loss and I'm done. Do you usually face the race and make the call?

I read a very good article on AK recently. I think it was in All In Magazine. The claim of the article was that most amateurs get in trouble because they don't use AK effectively.

What i say here on out is paraphrasing the article. If you disagree..so be it, these are the aouthors points, not mine, but I think there is much to be learned from it.

AK has great value in it because of the fold equity it presents you with. In other words the value of AK is from going on the offensive with it and often causing your opponents to fold. The author claims you should never call a bet which would bring you all in before the flop because you can never be more than a coin flip to win, and in most cases you will be a slight dog. In some instances you will be a huge dog if up against AA or AK.

The reason he likes AK from an offensive point of view is that even though you are still never more than a coin flip, you will win the pot often enough with a large bet (or all-in) when villain folds to make up for the times that you are called and beaten.

I think I had intuitively played this way all along, and faced criticism many times for folding AK in the face of a bet that would put me all-in. I now understand why I was doing it, and am going to take this article to heart.

If we are in a low M spot, I am not going to apply this, but in high M spots early in tourneys I think this is advice you should heed.

Fold.

it depends on the speed of the game, your opponents and chips stacks.

You had 20BBs. So you are not in too much of a rush. If players are making big raises with many big aces (AQ AJ maybe even AT) and hands like KQ. Then you will be much better than a coin flip. This is the case in the turbos I play and in may SnGs I have played. I have no problem calling then. I don't want to limp into the money, I want to make it deep in the money. You won't get too many chances to double up. Even if I figure it is just a coin flip that I will be on the wrong side of I will usually take it and hope to get lucky. The time constraints are too great.

In a normal tournament, and given your "feel". Folding is the correct option as you are not getting odds to call. I wouldn't be upset with calling and busting though.

Originally Posted by PJ of TheGame

In strong games there is little reason to call with it.

In weaker ones, those weak all-ins ALSO have a good chance of meaning AJ or worse. In THOSE matchups you're a huge favorite.

If you can gamble for a big chipstack with a hand where most of the time it's a coinflip, and most of the rest of the time you're a huge favorite, I say do it.

You need to collect chips... just avoiding confrontations is NEVER enough to win :/

That's the approach I have been taking. Last two times, I knew I was against weak players. 1st time was 77 and it held up.
2nd time was A6 (wtf?), but the guy to me left pushed with 99. The nines held up.

Very early in the tourney I usually fold. Not worth the risk of going out. But in these situations I wanted to get in a position to make the final table, so I gambled. Of course, a month ago I folded and the flop came AxK. I just want to make sure my calling in these situations is not a residual tilt of that lay down.

Just remember, all those pairs are actually favorites against you. Anteye is absolutely correct that much of the value of AK is PF folding equity. And unless a lot of players are suddenly going all in with anything, I'd fold this and pick a better spot.

Remember first in vigorish is what it takes to steal the blinds (which you should be doing with AK if the table is tight). That's the key.