I still don't get why it being the first hand, or very early in the tourny makes that much difference.
Estelle I know you to be a good player and I certainly understand your (and others) position on this. I guess its a style/strategy difference rather than a poker difference. My position in an MTT is I want to accumulate chips and i don't mind gambling to get them if the odds are in my favor which they clearly are here.
I'll ask 3 questions:
1) If villan shows you 7-2 os after he bets (again assuming it's allowed) do you call or fold?
2) If it's the middle of the tourney (not yet in the money) and you and villan both have average chips stacks (still not under serious blind pressure but half the field has more chips than you but winning will put you in the top 20% and losing will knock you out) do you make the call?
and 3) If your are in a heads up tourney or it's down to heads up do you call or fold?
1) Yes, if villain shows me 2-7 OS, I fold with AK. Now lets say I had a 77, 88, ect, I make the call. But that isn't the situation that misch posted in his OP. Now you're giving me completely different situations that are not the same as misch's situation. The whole situation, blinds, stack, ect, all matter. But just for the hell of it, I'll answer the rest of your questions.
2) I think you would need to be a bit more clear on the whole average chipstack thing, but with AK against any random hand, once again I would probably fold. AK is a hand that I don't want to be calling off an all-in in most situations, I would rather be the first one all-in with great position in relation to the table. So yes, I fold, but you need to be a bit more clear about chip stacks, what is average stack, ect, for me to actually answer this question with certainty. But for now, yes, I fold.
3) OBV now this question is completely different from misch's situation. I think this question proves that situations obv matter on how to make decisions about any hand preflop, even same
hands. We are talking about a MTT in misch's situation, where there will be plenty of chances to accumulate chips against weaker players (assuming you're an above average player, which we are going to assume for this situation) while the blinds are relatively low because it is the first hand of the tourney, and this allows us to avoid situation just like having to call with AK for all our chips against any random hand. Once again more info is needed, about blind structure, stack size in relation to blinds, ect, but, in HU tourneys, most of the time blinds are a lot faster than MTTs and you are against a single opponent who you have to beat in order to advance. HU tourney I make the call, however, it does depend on blind structure and the rest of the information I stated above.
I still don't get why it being the first hand, or very early in the tourny makes that much difference.
The first hand part isn't that significant, it's just that first hand in a major MTT like the M.E. always has a very favorable blind structure for the more skilled players than the less skilled players, especially early in the tourney--which is the important part, not that it is specifically the first hand, but because it is early in tourney and what that means in relation to blinds and stack sizes. This is the main reason that early in the tourney makes such a difference on why you wouldn't make this call with AK early, compared to mid-to late stages where let's say you're a bit under average stack and a bit less than 20xBB-ish and you have AK and a player pushes without looking at cards, ect (similar to misch's example) then in this situation its a very easy call.
When your stack reaches a point where you no longer have a comfortable margin of difference between stack and blinds, then you no longer have the luxury of waiting for better than 65% odds preflop. So to answer your question why early tourney situations are so important when it comes to making a borderline decision, it mainly comes down to the blinds-stack situation. Smaller blinds in relation to stacks always favors the more skilled players over the less skilled players. I don't think I actually need to state the reasons why my previous statement is true, its pretty obv. This is why in misch's OP situation, it is an easy fold with just AK. Considering you're an above average player, there will be plenty of opportunities since it is an early tournament situation,
to find a better spot than 65% preflop where 5 cards will need to come out if you call and just a little bit of bad luck will beat you--you want to find a better spot where you can minimize the luck factor and leave it up to more skill than luck. With the blinds and stacks as they are, 65% preflop, is not even close to the odds to be making this call (once again, considering you're better than an average player).