I busted 6th where five get paid in a tournament. I was a chip leader for most of the tournament with 10x the nearest player for most of it. I lost most of the all ins where I had the equity edge to start with or got sucked out (losing to back door flush when I flopped trips and bet 3/4 each street). The last hand, I jammed KKs into villain who had beaten me five times before with marginal holds pre-flop and he turns over AJ. The ace comes out on the flop and I bust from the bubble. How do I avoid the situation again? A lot of it was bad luck and up until then, I became chip leader through balanced and exploitative play.

hi there , in my humble opinion you may need to follow icm more seriously, or simply change gears once you were close to the bubble and still 10x closest player,
in mtt it's to your benefit to let the structure work for you and the structure will put pressure on the lower stacks,.
What I do sometimes when (if I ever) have a big stack, is to let the smaller stacks or other aggresive players do the knockouts for me, and I only get involved once a few players have gone out, laddering as I call it
I'll go even as far as letting my stack go down to say 3rd position and then battle when only 3 players remain. this means of course folding premium hands,
I have seen some players simply sitout, since they don't perhaps trust themselves to fold AA.
let's hope it works out for you, from my side I still need to work on getting 10x vs closest rival

You could avoid this by being luckier lol. Just kidding. I lost so many times with kings, I don't even want to play it anymore. I just fold. I believe Daniel Negreanu said that over 90% of the time you have pocket kings, an ace comes on the flop. It is what it is, poker is full of surprises sometimes, no matter how you play.

Originally Posted by natelearnspoker

... I was a chip leader for most of the tournament with 10x the nearest player for most of it. I lost most of the all ins ..... How do I avoid the situation again? A lot of it was bad luck and up until then, I became chip leader through balanced and exploitative play.

There is an answer partly in your sad post. Just need to be "balanced and exploitative" by the end, taking into account bubble specific and opponent's edge. In such stages I would think much more about ICM/tourney share/stack scanning, than a simple equity. Well done and good luck.

Losing like that, with so big chip advantage sucks. I have some questions about your play. How did you get 10x stack to the player on second place? Did you continue with same play stile till the end? Why did you go all in preflop six times against same player? What was your table image? What kind of feelings you have when you start to lose flips? Did you go to emotional in preflop all ins?

Hello this is a game!It sometimes gives hope.and sometimes he throws them on the rocks.As a chip leader, you need to try to focus on the prizes and use only the monster hands to enter the game.And it doesn't always help)Feeling the opponents feel at the table and the jump card worth playing will lead you to victory!Good luck friend!

Going all-in preflop (when you expecting a call) always a coin flip, no matter the odds. As a deep stack (especially chip leader), you don't need to rely on luck to stay in a tournament. That's your advantage. Throwing it away by yourself you make your opponents a favor.
And of course you should never get involved in "Whose Luck is Greater?!" competition. How & how many times you win or lose to particular villain have nothing to do with cards in a deck.
If you go for big preflop-raise, potentially eliminating all "weak" hands and then see ace on the flop, you'd figured out the rest.

GL

When you are a chipleader of a tournament, you have a lot of opportunities to put pressure on weak or short players, which is a big advantage for the game. But a large number of players forget that you can quickly lose a lot of chips when you play super aggressive and very much expand the range of your hands. If you have an advantage, you need to be able to implement it correctly. When you are a leader, you have done a very important part to win and then you need to properly analyze the players against whom you are comfortable playing and find all the weak points, it is impossible to constantly push and take all the chips.. Very short players risk nothing and start playing in a crazy way when it's all or nothing.. I think it is right not to enter into a confrontation, but it is not necessary to go into a full passive. It is necessary to show aggression, but carefully and very carefully choose the moment for this. I think you forgot about that..

When the bubble comes, the game should be special! If you are a chipleader, it is almost impossible to get out of the tournament, but you did it... No situation can justify you when you call on all the chips.. If you made a good pot before the prizes, sit still and wait for the money, do not play stupid hands or check the players ' abilities.. Bubble is not for this!

I want to say that perhaps that's why I'm probably taking a break from poker at the moment because such difficult moments as you have also happened you are the chip leader for a long period of the tournament and at the end of the game you are taken out of the game by some guy who has some crazy cards in his hands that, according to the theory of probability, has a minimum winning percentage.

Very helpful posts here!
IMO having the chip lead doesn't mean that you must take down every single hand. This is not a winning mentality. Yes of course you should apply more pressure but small ball should be your primary aim.

Have seen some tremendous lay downs by the chip leader against fight back spots because maintaining the lead gives you a bigger percentage of ICM.

One key point is to be the aggressor and not the Hero(most of the times) , calling ranges become so much more tighter when you are facing a 3bet jam versus a middle stack which can cause a damage to your stack. I am not the guy who has the moto ''be patient'' in poker in general , this is a loser's phrase but in this specific situation you must control your actions and be super selective in your spots!

So the next time I hope you will win it!

I can identify here so much! I attribute it (losing a big stack/ chip lead in a hurry) to assuming you are capable of absorbing a few bad beats/ decisions. This is extremely risky as things can turn in a heartbeat. There is a particular way to play a big chip lead, I would suggest doing a refresher course on what that is, and then reflect on my own play in those situations.

This is a normal phenomenon, this happens to me all the time and I think not only for me alone.This is poker, there is nothing more to say)

Sorry about your loss but it is the luck of the draw.
You ether play your hand or wait to be in the money then go for it.

As an update, I just busted in 6th on the bubble again so lesson not learned ( had AKs against 88 with the smallest stack so nothing I could really do about it lol

Originally Posted by natelearnspoker

I busted 6th where five get paid in a tournament. I was a chip leader for most of the tournament with 10x the nearest player for most of it. I lost most of the all ins where I had the equity edge to start with or got sucked out (losing to back door flush when I flopped trips and bet 3/4 each street). The last hand, I jammed KKs into villain who had beaten me five times before with marginal holds pre-flop and he turns over AJ. The ace comes out on the flop and I bust from the bubble. How do I avoid the situation again? A lot of it was bad luck and up until then, I became chip leader through balanced and exploitative play.

The only adjustment I see - from what you wrote is betting more reasonable with top set - you don't need to put in 3/4 pot bet every street when you are chip leader and a possible flush is coming in.

Suckouts happen to us all - even at times and back to back to back when we are chip leading. It happens.

many times it happens someone loves the game someone is mathematically cunning but it can happen from the last placed in the tournament winner, the wheel of fortune is unpredictable

Originally Posted by natelearnspoker

I busted 6th where five get paid in a tournament. I was a chip leader for most of the tournament with 10x the nearest player for most of it. I lost most of the all ins where I had the equity edge to start with or got sucked out (losing to back door flush when I flopped trips and bet 3/4 each street). The last hand, I jammed KKs into villain who had beaten me five times before with marginal holds pre-flop and he turns over AJ. The ace comes out on the flop and I bust from the bubble. How do I avoid the situation again? A lot of it was bad luck and up until then, I became chip leader through balanced and exploitative play.

Nobody’s fault but your own. 10x chip lead on the bubble, go for a coffee dude, needless greed is what cost you, let the crowd eat each other then carve up the leftovers.

Originally Posted by Brentsn

Nobody’s fault but your own. 10x chip lead on the bubble, go for a coffee dude, needless greed is what cost you, let the crowd eat each other then carve up the leftovers.

Patience is the key

Originally Posted by natelearnspoker

I busted 6th where five get paid in a tournament. I was a chip leader for most of the tournament with 10x the nearest player for most of it. I lost most of the all ins where I had the equity edge to start with or got sucked out (losing to back door flush when I flopped trips and bet 3/4 each street). The last hand, I jammed KKs into villain who had beaten me five times before with marginal holds pre-flop and he turns over AJ. The ace comes out on the flop and I bust from the bubble. How do I avoid the situation again? A lot of it was bad luck and up until then, I became chip leader through balanced and exploitative play.

Patience is the key

Sorry wrong post