A dumb play cost me on Poker Stars

I was playing a 10 - 1 MTT on Poker Stars last night that had 933 entries. I had been playing well was 54 with 117 people left and I had about 12,000 chips. Doesn't sound great, but I was not getting cards, never saw AA, KK QQ or AK the whole time. I hit a few flops at key times and doubled up. With the blinds at 300 - 600 I was the big blind with AJo Under the gun raises 3Xbb and everyone folds to me. He had about 20,000 chips and had been firing out bets to grab the blinds. But I figured under the gun, he had a pocket pair maybe 10's. I call it and the flop bring an Ace and 2 blanks. Now here is where I believe I blew it, instead of firing out 2 or 3 X the BB to see if the Ace scared him or just tt see where I stood in the hand, I went all in. He called with AQo and took me out. This kind of play is the weakness of my game right now. It was like my brain froze and I just pushed my chips. Anyone else suffer from this or does anyone have the cure ????

It sounds as if you would rather gamble the whole tournament - rather than lose a 1200-1800 bet to this guy. You would rather take to chance to double up, rather than try to make back the 1800 which it sounds like it took you a long time to earn.
I have done it too....It is a sign of frustration and simply being tired. Unfortunately I still occasionally make those bone headed moves. The only answer is to quit playing when you are tired. Not exactly easy in a MTT, but you generally know you are in it for 3-5 hours so plan accordingly. If the tourney starts at 9pm and you usual bedtime is 11pm....you should probably pass. By midnight you will be extremely tired and more inclined to make these bad calls. Anyway, just my take on it.

#1 rule, never "risk" all your chips.. Your all-in bet was a risk.

#2 TP/TK is very very rarely worth an all-in bet. TP/Good Kicker can be almost be considered trash depending on your opponents. This deep in to the tourney its trash.

#3 Don't F with the big stacks unless you have the nuts :)

Read up on MTT strats. Take what you can from all of the posts and develop it into your own game.

I was in a similar situation. $3 buy in 1700 entrants; I have a short stack about 1100, catching cold cards. Got QQ and was on the button everyone limped in and I went all in. Everyone fold except 1 he called with 6-7 offsuit. The board hits 345 and he hits a straight. I go out in flames in 900 and something.

Thanks for the advice guys. It was frustrating as I did work hard to build a decent stack. I usually know better, I felt good, wasn't tired. It's like going on tilt for 5 secs.

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Originally Posted by Tenny

Thanks for the advice guys. It was frustrating as I did work hard to build a decent stack. I usually know better, I felt good, wasn't tired. It's like going on tilt for 5 secs.

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Thats the bitter sweet pain of large MTT's
5 hours to bust on the bubble, or win $12 :(

It always takes a better hand to call a raise in tourneys than it does to make a raise. I'm mucking AJo to a raise made from UTG.

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Originally Posted by DrNoChance

It always takes a better hand to call a raise in tourneys than it does to make a raise. I'm mucking AJo to a raise made from UTG.

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Thanks for bringing that up..

Your play needs to change based on if you are the first one in the pot, if there is a raise in front of you, or if you have 3 limpers in front of you.

My hand selection tightens up alot when i'm facing a raise, especially an early position raiser.