Hi guys, I want to get some advice on a hand I am pretty sure I played terribly.
It's a 15 euro MTT, and we are at the FT, 7 left out of 489 entries.
Blinds are 10/20k


BTN (378222 in chips) 19 BB
SB (208588 in chips) 10 BB
BB Hero (859919 in chips) 43 BB
EP (939243 in chips) 47 BB
MP (623132 in chips) 31 BB
HJ (650287 in chips) 33 BB
CO (1230609 in chips) 62 BB

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero (BB) [Ad 8h]
EP: raises 24000 to 44000
MP: folds
HJ: folds
CO: folds
BTN: folds
SB: folds
Hero: calls 24000

*** FLOP *** [Ac Th 7h] Pot 112,000
Hero: checks
EP: bets 44800
Hero: calls 44800

*** TURN *** [Ac Th 7h] [4d] Pot 201,600
Hero: checks
Ep: bets 140000
Hero: calls 140000

*** RIVER *** [Ac Th 7h 4d] [3c] Pot 481,600
Hero: checks
EP: bets 337120

Hero: ???

The situation on the river it's pretty nasty, and I think it's a fold. On the other hand, I am feeling like I should not be in that situation to begin with, especially because it is kind of terrible to battle with another big stack given the stacks at the table.
Could I have folded turn with these stack sizes?

Thanks a lot to whoever would like to respond.

Pretty large bet on river, that you have to fold. Might seem bad, but folding pre flop is fine in my view. You will be OOP, versus someone that covers you, with shorter stacks than yourself. A8 is rarely going to be able to stand heat if villain wants to put pressure on.

Thank you for your answer! I thought about folding pre too, in general I think there is a lot of merit to it, because with these stacks it's hard to complete my equity when I am OOP, and if I get TP I might get stacked by TPTK+.
That is why I pondered a fold pre.

On the other hand I also thought folding A8o when we are 7 left and I only have to pay 24k on a 88k pot might be too nit... I thought folding here could allow EP to open too much.

After thinking about it later, I concluded it is probably better to fold pre, but I am curious what other people think about it, as I am sure there are some merit to the flat.

Dont defend raggy offsuit Ax vs early positions . Doesnt matter players left , stack size , pot odds or whatever reason. Dont do it!

Fold pre

I think A8 oop is kinda like Russian roulette. I agree with the others who have said fold it pre flop. Failing that, fold the flop. Failing that fold the turn for sure. etc.

I think defending and folding the flop is the worst thing we can do here. Turn seems like we can exploitably fold this combo if villain is not going to be bluffing much. We also block some of their bluffs with the 8h.

Defending pre and calling the cbet is pretty standard here imo.

I don’t mind folding some of our worst Ax if we are a little uncomfortable and think villain is capable of barreling a lot and going a bit tighter on a final table seems fine. That being said A8o is a fairly easy call pre and folding flop is just terrible. I think folding on the turn is generally the best option as we want to be conservative and the size does suggest that villain is having a more polarized range that is less likely to check back rivers. Also having an 8h doesn't do wonders for this hand as a bluff catcher so folding river for sure.

Pretty much agree with this. If you call pre, you can’t fold this flop. Also agree it’s a pretty standard defend in most cases. I just think this exact spot makes it difficult to defend well. Look what happened. Got a good flop and we face a tricky call down where we have no idea if we are hero calling or getting value owned.

Yea that's how I see it too. I think flatting pre and calling flop can never be wrong , but folding might be the best course to avoid getting owned and losing a chunk of chips when we are in such a good position at the table.