So we're down to about 100 people left in the $10 20k guaranteed on stars last night. I had a decent stack with about 100 people left, and I take a few small beats out of pots and proceed to go completely card dead for about 45 minutes and lost one decent pot, (reraise from the cut off with JJ to isolate a smallish preflop raiser, flop is 10, 10, 9, two diamonds, bet flop get called, turn is the Ace of diamonds, check check, river off suit King, he bets about half the pot (and half his stack) and I folded).

Anyways... so I'm left with about $60,000 with blinds at 2,500/5,000. I tread water for almost this whole level, getting frustrated catching 0.. and I mean zero cards. kept seeing 102, and J3. etc. blinds move up to 3,000/6,000 and i've still got right around 60k left. Continue to remain card dead this whole level, but stole blinds to stay afloat, but at this point i'm baiscally playing All In poker.

Hand I go out on a guy limps in second position, folds to me on the button, i have about 55k having just been through the blinds. I move all in with K 10 on the button hoping to pick up the blinds and like an idiot i hadn't paid attention to the preflop limper ( i knew the money was in there but didn't pay attention to who had limped) and notice that hmmmm. he's second in chips in the tourney by a long shot.. first had like 400,000, he has like 380,000 and closest to them has about 270,000... I felt like a moron because I saw the guy gamble in a huge pot preflop with QJ so chances are I'm getting called by the monster stack. Low and behold he flips over KQ and I bust in 40th place and just feel like an idiot for not paying attention to him. I mean, i realize I have to be ready to gamble when I'm that short stacked and i realize most of the time i'm probably up against a naked ace and am in a 60/40 situation. But I could've picked a better situation and avoided shoving all my chips at the big stack I know likes to gamble. Blah.. I was just bugged by it and felt like venting! Thanks for reading!

Bro! Take it easy on yourself. Your focus wandered for a minute, don't sweat it. It's just a shame he had you dominated, but you were going to have to push somewhere. At least you finished 40th in that huge donkfest. Keep up the good work!

lol.. thanks. Yea, i'm not torn up about it, just kind of a small annoyance I know I played well the whole tourney and I don't feel too horrible about shoving. I just think against this player I probably would've limped from the button and taken it down on the flop if it checked to me, or just folded and opted to move in against different opponents when I really don't want to be called.

Its an unfortunate truth about tourneys, but it only takes one mistake to knock you out.

I played my $1 rebuy last night and ran my kings into trip 6 and ran my top pair/flush draw into trip 7s...

A year ago I would curse my luck. The two big pots I play (outside of the pocket aces I picked up that held up) I get outdrawn.

Today, I'm annoyed that I lost more than I needed to in both pots. Especially the first one, where my opponents preflop action screamed small pocket pair/set mining. I could have bet 1/3 pot and he would have folded anything BUT a set.

In the second example I could have checked, called the flop and possible gotten enough info to lay down on the turn (assuming I didn't hit anything).

It's a good thing you're beating yourself up. It's a step ahead of blaming luck and cards.

We all go card dead. The last tournament I played I went two hours without picking up a playable hand. Two HOURS!! But so what. That's a pretty rare event, but something I will have to deal with occasionally.

Thank you for your comments! Appreciate you listening! Gonna keep on trucking and I bet I'll pay more attention to whose done what action in the hand before I just shove like that again.

FWIW, making notes using w/e software you're using is a HUGE help when youre at the same table for ages. Take as many as you can, it really helps a ton.

thanks. Yea... i don't make nearly as many notes as I should, I'd been playing with this guy for a while and seen him gamble it up several times preflop, as I said I saw him call off 3/4 of his stack with QJ preflop. I just honestly didn't even look to see exactly who had limped, it was my mistake and that is what frustrated me because it was such a simple one. Had he not been in the pot I insta shove when it folds to me here because the blinds wouldn't call me without a hand. Had I looked up and seen who had been in the pot I either limp and try to steal it on the flop if it checks to me (he was playing very passively post flop, checking out of position most of the time so i could've used that to my advantage). But thanks for the advice, I have been trying to force myself to take more notes while playing I just don't stick to my plan.

To be honest finishing 40th in that event is very impressive when you consider the amount of idiots in it who love to call with 10 3s and out draw your aces. Its natural to lose concentration for a moment or two in a long tournament like that its just unfortunate for you that your stack was low enough for it to cost you the game.

Thanks. Yes.. just a moment of lost focus. I actually like these tournaments alright, you have to gamble early but once it gets deeper into the field I like playing more small ball kind of game when I have the chips to do it. =)