How can I get the most value for the hand?

[Swodaems]

It's early in a full tilt $1 tourny. Blinds are still small compared to stack sizes and everyone at the table has roughly even stack sizes. I get AK off in BB.
Pre flop action:
Action folds the the guy across from me, who min raises. CO and Button call, as well as the SB. With this many players in a pot, I don't raise AK. (usually only gives you a TPTK and can get you in a lot of trouble.)
flop: Qs Ks As
I have flopped top two pair, but this board scares the shit out of me. (this happened shortly after my previous experience with top two pair.) I'm second to act, so I check to see what happens behind me. To my surprise, everybody, including the initial raiser, checks.
turn: A
With the exception of a Royal, which I doubt anyone flopped, I now have the best hand possible, with only 1, maybe 2 outs to lose. (I can escape the hand with 4 cards to the royal on the board, but quad queens would pick me up, strip me down, perform unmentionable acts to my various orifices and call me Suzi.) The Pot currently contains 10 big blinds, but since it's still early, that isn't much. What should I do?

 

[7letters]

..With this many players in a pot, I don't raise AK...

I think the call is fine. It's early in a $1 tourney.
I see nothing wrong with a good sized raise from the BB though.

..I have flopped top two pair, but this board scares the shit out of me..

I'd like to bet the flop here.
If someone has flushed on the flop then I'm likely paying them off.

Other than that, if I had played the hand like you, then I'd be looking for value by betting the turn(and the river)

 

[Cowboy8112]

I would check the post flop here, reraise any raise. with everyone checking and 1/3rd of the top cards in the deck accounted for getting a call to a bet isnt likley. The best you can hope for is someone overbetting their PP or trying to steel the blinds (all of you that complain about the donks....this is what happenes when they are absent from your table)

 

[LostFan23]

I hate just calling preflop. It's a $1 tourney what are you afraid of? You're giving a chance to way too many rag hands--if they're going to play bad make them pay. In fact, with this low a buy in and that many callers, an all-in shove isn't bad at all. You might get called by a KQ or a A J or something and have a great shot at doubling up this early.

 

[Lemlywinks]

Yes I agree calling pre-flop with AK (or with anything worth playing) is just giving the callers a greater chance to flop something to make their hand. Not to mention that you already aren't getting as much value as you could from this hand.
Flop. You have to bet out here, regardless of being scared. Giving a free turn card is terrible when you have 2 pair and a 4-way pot, so get some of them out. If there are 10bb in there, bet about 1/2 the pot to pot to at least get one/two people out.

You really aren't beat my much here after the turn A (all flushes and straights are gone) Why are you talking about quad Q's?? There is only one Q on the board so that's physically impossible at that point. Bet. You shouldn't even be considering better hands than yourself since there is only one (Js/10s)

As a sidenote let me just say again that you need to raise pre-flop with a 4 way pot. Large amounts of limpers with big cards don't usually end well. I would like a raise of 4-5bb pre-flop. It gives you a much clearer picture of what people have when you raise vs flat call

 

[wasda]

The call from the BB is fine, usually a raise will just end up with everyone calling and a huge pot being built. On the flop I'll probally try to check raise, althought the board is scary I really like my hand at the moment. On the Turn, You've hit, I think the main thing is trying to keep the pot Mult-way, try betting 2/3 of the pot and either min-raising or calling if someone else raises, If they all call bet the same on the river, and hope they call again.

 

[Swodaems]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I will take them into consideration. This is how the hand turned out.

I bet out a small raise of 2-3 bbs, just small enough to get the potential one out royal drawers to call along with any small pocket pairs who want to chase boats of their own, possibly even a straight or nut flush drawer. I don't think the royal, a straight or a flush are out there after seeing the complete lack of flop action. The initial raiser calls, but the other guys fold.
River: a non spade 10
I bet out again, slightly higher, but still less than most people would bet on the absolute nuts, (I'd completely discounted the royal as a possibility at this point, there just wasn't enough action,) hoping to catch a jack or incite a steal.
My opponent shoves all-in. I don't think he has a royal and the bet is too big for a straight considering that I could have one myself from his point of view. I put him on a fishing boat (any boat but top boat) and call him with my battle ship. He shows down pocket 10s, (one of which is the 10 of spades,) and goes out.