Just had a catastrophic meltdown...need help

[KKsuited]

29 people, $20.

I'm the chip leader with 5 left, pays 3. $100, $140, $240 roughly.

2-1 lead on second and about 4-1 on 4th and 5th.

Ran into AA and AK twice. 2nd and 3rd are letting 4th and 5th see every flop. I started getting really pissed at their play.

My trips lost to a flush and I went on tilt like I've never seen.

How do you guys stay patient when there are 2 or 3 players just trying to make the money? I was trying to bust to many people I guess. After about 35 minutes 5 handed, I lost it. Got outplayed, made a few bad calls and didn't win one single race.

I'm having a slight mental breakdown.

[dogmeat]

Welcome to poker.
Poker is all about patience.
Learn or burn.

Dogmeat /images/graemlins/spade.gif

[Lloyd]

Playing a large stack can often be difficult for those of us who don't get them all the time (i.e. most of us) or those of us without a lot of tournament experience. It can be even more difficult when you have people on the bubble.

I try to stay really focused and even tighten up a bit. I'll try and steal some blinds when I think the time is right. And if I have a good hand I'll certainly get involved. But the short stacks might be taking some gambles and now is not the time for you to go down that path. Things will calm down once everyone is in the money and you'll be able to show those muscles again.

[ethan]

[censored] 3rd place /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Seriously. So it goes. Most of the time the bubble will help you bust the shorter stacks.

[KKsuited]

I agree with you Ethan, I was playing to win. I don't think I made many terrible plays, but I could have been a little tighter.

Apparently I've watched Raymer play to many times and thought I could bust the entire table.