In my 2010 post I mentioned that one of the most important things about Poker is making adjustments. I think you will certainly find games where pushing all in is the only way to ensure you don't get 5-6 callers. I don;t know if I would start with a shove though. I might tell you to start with 4x and then if that is not producing the isolation results you were trying for, you can raise it up to a bit more.
I understand the OPs frustration and I know that if I have AK I often cringe because I know that a standard play here is not going to produce the results we are looking for and that is to gt HU or play against maybe two villains.
What works in the high stakes games will often not work in micros. Just like what works at Full Ring may not be the correct play at 6-max.
Learn to adjust but don't forget to adjust back when you move up or down.
I guess this is my point - just u put it better
My overall point in these kind of games is that if you make a standard raise, say 4 times the bb with AK (and I`m using AK as an example only) you will get lots of callers early on - any ace, any 2 suited cards, any connectors, etc) so u r in a multi way pot with Ace high - a place I for one do not want to be.
I am not saying that at a higher level I do the same - far from it. But tell me this, if u were given the opportunity of going all in with AK heads up against any hand other than AA/ KK, would you take it? Remembering, at worst you will be about 50:50 ?
As it happens, once I push all in and I turn a big hand, what then happens is people do start to respect your raises, so u r then back to raising 5 times the bb.
I also find playing these levels that when the blinds are 10/20 don`t raise 4 times bb = 80. You need to raise to take your bet to 120, meaning that they have to call three numbers (i.e. 100) as opposed to two numbers (i.e. 80)
It is all interesting stuff to me because due to a house move I pulled out lots of funds from my
poker sites, meaning I had to drop to lower levels to stay within my
bankroll. I`m more use to playing $5 - $10 SNG`s and u do notice a change in play