GTA Poker;260536 wroteWell, convince me...I don`t play NL MTTs almost ever, but if there isn`t much history with these 2 players then betting the same with his entire range isn`t as much of a factor is it?
At this level it's always important to balance to some degree. In this spot the reason we're making it this size as opposed to bigger is that if we make it any bigger it's so obvious we're never bluffing and we'll only get action from JJ+/AK, and we'll induce less spazz. This size is meant to look like we're bluffing when we're not so people will shove over us still. This is about as big as we can make it to still get action from the original raiser.
Wouldn't it be better to bet an amount that either takes it down right there or makes it a huge error to call with KQ, AT-AQ and any pair?
How is it not already a huge error for someone to call for 3-outs vs. AK with this size? We're giving them 3:1 and they need like 4.5:1 or something to hit their 3-outer if they play perfectly post flop.
Why would a pot-sized reraise be such a mistake -- is it somehow more exploitable?
Yes, they'll just fold AQ/AJ like every time and turns our hand face up.
Does risking his whole stack post-flop not outweigh balancing his bet sizing and risking his entire tournament vs increasing his stack by 15% and taking it down preflop?
I don't even want to get into weighing benefits of risking your tournament life vs. winning a smaller amount of chips. Basically, and most high stakes MTT players agree, you should be looking to maximize value in 99% of spots instead of worrying about tourney life unless the ICM implications are high.
Assigning him a range how often is it good to get it all in with AJ post flop? Without history my thinking is his range is (generously) AJ+, 88+ although I lean much more towards AK, TT+ vs an unknown in this spot...without doing the math I assume that getting it in post flop vs his range isn't great.
I'm not sure what part you're talking about with assigning him these ranges. But basically if we called with AJ pre-flop we gotta get it in here for the sake of consistency in our line since our call pre should indicate we think we're ahead of his range.