playing ace-king off suit at final table

This is my first question on this site so I hope it goes well and I get some good feedback. I have been playing serious for about 5 month and have made two final tables in live poker at my local casino in the past two weeks. Anyway I was at this stage I was chip leader with 50,000 with 8 players left and got dealt ace-king in the BB the blinds were 1000 and 2000. Everybody folded until a player in MP raised to 10,000 it got folded to me.. I thought about it and put him all in, he called with a pair of two's my ace-king did'nt hit and his two's held up, was this a really bad move on my part and did my lack of experience show and I could have done something better? Thanks all I find ace-king one of the hardest SH to play because you have to hit and the odds are slightly against.... Suggestions please

AK looks very nice, but remember - unless you hit, its only ace - high, and about 45 : 55 underdog to any lower pair. Final table is slightly different game, depending on how many paid places there are etc, but I believe AKo is a nice hand to push being a chip leader. On the other hand, if you had any read on him, you could just called initial bet and see the flop. After seeing nothing else but overcards (as I understand, he didn't hit a set), and if there were scary cards like Q, J, he could just check and then fold to your bet (depending on how much he had left). Deuces are only a small favorite to almost any hand (like 93 or J4), and a serious underdog to any other pocket pair. Also, if he fired a continuation bet, you could have folded after not hitting anything on the flop. But it looks like he was ready to go all the way with his hand, and so were you, so the final result would probably be the same anyway.

Thanks marvinas, probably a call would have been the best bet as I lost 35000 chips and came 8th when a better finish was there to be had. Would you recommend a fold in this postion? One of my friends did and said that why play to a big raise when chip leader unless you have got a premium pair? Just sit tight and let others knock each other out

does it matter if it's suited or not? ;p

u really had 2 options ,,1 reraise all in ,,or 2 smooth call ...i think both plays on a final table are a vaible option,,,,in that instance u wanted to race with your ak,,,which for me is the correct 1, any low stakes player who says they wudd la ak to a max raise is tellin porkys,,, if u wudda won that race with your ak u wudd most proberbly gone on to win it...i say push away all day lond with ak heads up in a pot

only move he could do differently was to call the bet, and expect something in the flop, and not from anything man could fold without increasing problem

I'd shove it...Most hands your a favorite, sometimes even dominating and against any pair you are 45%.

I think i would have smooth called him preflop, and pushed all in after the flop. I think it is a tougher call all in after the flop with a small pocket pair, unless you flop a set. a small pair preflop at best is 52/48, post flop with no set could be as bad as 90/10 or something like that. It just a harder call post flop with 3 overs on the board. Not sure i could call all in post flop with 2s. Just a thought for you to ponder.

PokerJoe

I sorta like this answer. Only problem is 22 might have intented to push after the flop whether he hit or not, and you still have no idea what he's got. You're in the BB, you've gotta act before him. That's what makes this hand tricky is if you don't hit. You check, he'll raise. Now what do you do? On the other hand, there's a better chance (no guarantee) that if you put him all-in after the flop, he'll fold when he doesn't hit. If not, you're no worse off than having gone all-in preflop.

With your lousy position, fold is also a good option. 5x the BB is a huge raise, and the odds against any pair at all are slightly against you. Just a tough call. I don't think you played it badly. The 'almost' coin-flip just didn't work in your favor, a risk we all take at some point. However, with your decent chip stack, I might have waited for a better opportunity.

Heard someone say, at the final table (with several players still in) you can't win the tournament with one hand, but you sure can lose it.
I think I would have just called, then after the flop lead out with a value bet, He may fold and if he comes over the top, you can fold and still have 3/5 of your stack left.

Take care

oh wow these threads are great...

OP, the 22 was played awful and AK is a giant favourite against 22 hand range equity wise. Think about AK as roughly equivalent to JJ if it was a pp in terms of how well it does against a fairly wide stacking range (such as 66+, KQ, KJ, AT+, etc). The vast majority of these hands are crushed by AK and it has 45%+ equity vs pps. 22 however is a flip vs most overcards (and a dog vs s/cs) and absolutely crushed by all other pps. You simply cannot get 22 in "good" except for the 0.5% of the time you get it in vs 2x. Run it through pokerstove if you want to see the exact numbers, but there is nothing wrong with stacking off w/AK preflop in a tournament in the majority of cases and you certainly shouldn't be worried about losing a race.

Thanks everyone for your help in this matter, looking back a better move would in my opinion been to smooth call and see the flop if i hit then bet if not then fold to his raise or bet to his check. I don't mind going out but not to an awful call from him on 22s he should never have called my reraise anyway so I don't feel too bad. One further point do any of you chose to wald away from the table as chip leader I did that for 1/2 an hour and won the previous tournament. If i'd have done it this time I would never have seen the AK and gone out. Just a thought...

Flatting then folding if you miss would be the worst thing you could do.