King-sized Folds

So after taking down another $100 in sit-n-go's last night after a brief pull-back a few nights ago, I have a few observations:

I don't think I've played in one tournament, big or small, where I moneyed and I didn't lay down at least one huge hand. For example, this past evening, I lead out with about 1/8th of my stack with KK, and got one caller. The flop hit A 8 5, and my bet on the flop was immediately raised. It was pretty obvious I was up against Aces, and when the A came on the turn, my check and eventual fold came as a bit of a disappointment. I was stuck with only 60% of my original stack, and I felt a little gypped.

45 minutes later, I took 3rd out of 18 and took home a little cash to soothe my ego.

Point being? I might have gotten bluffed out of that pot from a smaller PP, but that was the ONLY hand that could have bluffed me. QQ or JJ was a possibility, but every other hand that would've called me, typically A2-AJ, was more than likely what i was up against. Even though it would have been a "bad beat", there was more sense in swallowing a small defeat than trying to be macho and go down in flames.

The most common sign of an idiot player (and/or new player) is their insistence on playing cards that cannot win, just because pre-flop they had a monster. Listen, you may have gotten a caller and started a hand at an 80% favorite, but after the flop, you could be a 15% underdog. There's no glory in proudly emptying your pockets out trying to win on that 15%, just because you "should've won", and the guy that called you is "such a donkey".

It doesn't make a difference, you still lost all your money. Now who's the donkey?