[RiverDood]

Yeah, that's exactly the sort of experience I'm wanting to analyze. I've played easily 100 tournaments online or live since Jan. 1, 2005, ranging from freerolls to $200 buyins, and from single-table SNGs to 2,000-person extravaganzas. I'm no superstar, but overall, poker is profitable for our household.

What got me curious was that in 97 or 98 of the past year's tourneys, I've either won with good cards/good play/good luck, or lost with bad cards/bad play/bad luck. But there are two or three weird outliers where all the chip erosion happened on reasonable hands that played out "normally." For example: my AK played heads up twice vs. a PP when I didn't catch. Or my Ax took a stab at a JJA flop before backing off when it was clear that I was up against Jx. Or I had to play short-stacked with a LAG chip leader one or two seats to my left, limiting my ability to steal.

In short, these are cases where nothing went especially right, but nothing went brutally wrong. I'm not angry or whiny about it; hey, I'm the first to affirm that a lot of things (luck included) have to go right to win a tournament. But what's weird is the sense that all the chips can slip away without a single clear bit of ruinous luck or play.

I'll agree with Pzhon that most of the time, we bust out of tournaments with obviously bad play or bad luck. I wasn't trying to suggest anything otherwise. The point of the original post -- which eventually I'll express coherently -- is that on rare occasions, what seems like decent play and middling luck can be fatal, too.