Rio 235 deepstack.Just lost 16k flip. Blinds are 300-600. I have 20,000 to start the hand. Get a-q off utg. Raise to 1.5k. Get 2 callers in mp, and sb and bb complete. Flop is Ac-6s-9c. Sb and bb check. I bet 4500 into 8,100. 1st mp folds. 2nd mp preflop caller asks if I have any orange 5k chips, I don't, and he raises to 10,500. Not a lot of reads on him. Mid 20's appears to be foreign. Played tight for first 2 hours.
He has 35k via getting quads last hand b4 break. Pretty sure this has to be a fold. He has 2 combo draws we kind of beat, 7-8cc and k high flush draws, but he has 4 value hands that crush us here: 66,99,A9,A6, and we're getting 3-1 if we shove but I don't think this is really a pot odds situation. Highly doubt he's playing A-10/A-j this way bc I'm betting into 4 people. My image is pretty aggressive because I got dealt the deck in the 1st 2 hours.

With this many players in the hand, and your table image, I don't think I am a big fan of a C-Bet here.
I like to raise 1800-2400 here pre and check/shove the flop because in these deepstack tournies you run out of time to find better spots quickly. If they flopped a set, have AK, A6 or A9, or are on a draw that winds up coming in, then it wasn't your tourney and onto the next one.
AQ is at the tippedy-top of an Aggro player's perceived opening range, so players will play back at you if you C-Bet here (probably because you C-Bet a majority of the time if you are Aggro) when they are in position with a much wider range than you might give them credit for. AK is highly unlikely because a tight player would have reraised with it, so you're either way ahead or way behind.

Check/shove gives you one last chance to knock anyone who doesn't have you crushed out of the hand. If they got you crushed, that's poker, and they weren't going anywhere anyway. If they truly percieve you as Aggro/tilted, then you'll get paid off more than you think when they make a move at you with lesser hands. The structure for the Deepstacks is so steep that you can't really afford to be patient if you want to go deep.
If the structure was more gradual and the levels longer, a fold is a more understandable option because you'd have more time to find a better spot.

With you on the c/shove line although its close. The two players to my left r nits thus far and could easily check back, but there's alot of dead money in the pot so chances are they wont. But lols at making my bet sizing that big pre. Its actually a really close spot the way I played it. Getting horrible equity against his raise flop range. Comes down to whether or not I think he's doing this with a-j. If he is I have more then enough equity to call, if he's not, and I dont think he is, its a trivial laydown.