Offers to play a big pot

It isn't clear what you did on the flop as first to act in the SB. Did you really check after smashing this flop? I would bet about 8500 and then if Villain jams its an insta call.

I think this is a must call given the bet is slightly more than pot. Its not that it is a polarizing bet, its just that even if Villain has A3s he is winning only 56% of the time and we chop 7% of the time. And if Villain has a set we win about 31% and chop about 2%. So we are basically getting the right price to call in the worst case scenario.

Given that Villain 3-bet pre-flop it makes it unlikely he has 22/44/55. He can have A3s though if he is a balanced 3-bettor. But he can also have a lot of PP's like TT and even if he has a spade we have a 58% chance to win.

I also think that it is unlikely if Villain flopped a set or a straight that they would necessarily jam. I would probably bet about 7,500 and then jam the turn. And if Villain has a pair I understand why they might jam thinking they are ahead wanting you to fold.

I found myself in this type of spot only one time over the years but I was in position and Villain was BB. I had AJs and flopped a flush draw with two overcards. Villain checked I bet the flop and Villain c/r jammed for basically a little more than pot. I insta called and he said "I need a diamond". Then he saw my hand and said "I need a 5 or a 2" as he had 52s...

Snap call. Not sure why this was posted. Where you thinking you should've folded AKs to the 3-bet or what? I can see folding AKo to the 3-bet at least some of the time if he truly has no bluffs or weaker value. Postflop is an automatic high-five the dealer spot with the NFD + 2 overs for a pot sized bet and no severe ICM tax.

Uh... huh. Something is indeed wrong with my memory of the hand here. I... must have checked, even though in my mind it was a donk? I have no memory of making a decision prior to calling a shove on the flop, but I remember the initial raiser was two seats to my left so I indeed had to be SB.

I assume leading small here to minimize fold equity, that makes sense - I must have been focused on the fact that he was going to check back any unpaired hand or something.

A bit for confirmation of this, but also just I think trying to understand how I should feel about getting the second biggest stack at the table almost committed with "just" AKs OOP. Folding seems stupid, cold-calling also dumb, the 50bb chart I checked 4-bets it pure and shoves with AKo, so... I think it's right.

Part of the answer I'm probably looking for here is that doubling up at this point of the tournament is still quite valuable and therefore it's definitely worth risking my whole stack on what's close to a flip - or even "high-five the dealer" GII when I'm slightly ahead. There's probably an absolute stack depth that is liable to see the money, or something like that? This line is obviously plus cEV but tournaments are more complicated than that.

Agree the actual result is not super-interesting. Villain's shove is transparently an overpair (definitely does not have A3s in his 3b-call range and would be pretty surprised if he had even 55).

Looks fine as long as you didn't fold. You could have as many as 18 outs, and at worst you have 9 + 3 chops.

As an aside, and to your broader thoughts... While there are times in tournaments where the ICM effects make you generally want to err on the side of caution and play smaller pots rather than risk going big stack against big stack, we're not really deep enough in for that to be the case. And you played each step of the hand correctly, assuming you did lead the flop. Only thing I might do differently in an ICM-heavy scenario is shove the flop myself and hope I can convince overpairs I have a bigger one. Maybe I 4-bet a little larger to compensate for being OOP and so that having effectively a PSB left gives me all my reasonable options of check / lead small / lead medium / shove.

That said, if you have a big stack and feel like you have a big edge over the field, you naturally will want to avoid big pots when equities are close. However, I still don't think you did anything wrong here. You played every decision correctly and villain just didn't go away, and you have far too much equity in the hand to fold once villain shoves flop.

I think a call is standard

Yes, that's probably what I need to hear. It was just taxing on my mental game to finally win a couple flips and cover the table, actually have options other than shove, and then almost immediately go back to another 60/40 flip. It sounds like the correct perspective though is that I was likely to need to win another couple to really go deep anyway, and if I had won this one I would have 4.5x the starting stack and quite possibly be near the overall chip lead going into Level 8. Honestly probably harder on my mental game for having to commit without a "made" hand even over 50% equity; calling down with TPTK versus a 40% equity draw that hit would somehow feel better even though the math is literally the same.

Interesting on the ICM thoughts though. I was already honestly disappointed to pick up AKs in this spot, and I can only imagine the stress facing the 3b if this were, say a FT situation where I was chip leader and losing the flip would bust me down to a short stack. But I guess on the other side, winning it in that case would be excellent odds to win the whole thing.

I had a pretty big edge on this villain, but definitely not the field - if nothing else, LJ from the HH was definitely more practiced at <50bb play.

I will say, if this was at a final table and villain is ICM-conscious, strong chance he just folds TT to the cold 4-bet.

On the flop you are laid 2 to 1 for your money in which your hand supposedly have at least 50% equity against his range. That is massively more advantageous than 60/40 for 1 to 1 odd.