Most frustrating week ever!

I guess this is what I get for taking some time off from cash games and playing tournies. I joined a bet with some guys online to see who could do better in March playing a certain tourney on Poker Stars. PStars has 180 person tournies that start whenever that many people join. The bet is to see who can have the best 20 finishes in these tournies. So far my results have been so-so and I'm break even as far as $$$ goes. I figured while doing this bet I would try to play some more tournies this month and usually have 3 or 4 tournies going at once.

I've been playing great this whole week but can't seem to have my big hands hold up when it matters. I played a $50 tourney today and made the final table (370 people). At the final table I started 2nd in chips. I'll list my big hands here to show why it can be frustrating:

On the CO(cutoff) I raised 3x the BB(big blind) with K9o (King 9 offsuit) and got reraised by the shortest stack at the table about double my raise. Getting the odds I had to call and he showed 44 and we had a coinflip and the 44 held up.

When we were down to 7 I got AJo in the SB. The short stack that was UTG raised to 3x the BB and I put him all in. He thought for a while and finally called with A7o and my AJo held up and I took him out. This gave me the chip lead.

With 5 left the short stack at the table pushed all-in and I had AKs (Ace King suited) and I called him and he showed A5s. The flop came 7 high with two of my suit so he had only 2 fives that he could hit since 1 of them made my flush. It hit on the river and he doubled up. This put me in 3rd in chips.

A couple hands later I get the monster KK sitting UTG and make my standard rasie to 3x BB. The button, also the short stack pushed all in and I insta-called him. He flipped A7o and spiked an A on the turn to beat me. This put me down to the short stack.

One rotation later I push in with AJs and double up when the big blind calls with T4o since I was so short. However I was still short stack even after the double.

The second shortest stack got taken out and we were down to 4. The big stack who was in the SB when I was in the BB was continually raising me so when he did it this time I called and then pushed the flop and got him to fold. This got me back up to a decent stack and put me 3rd in chips.

The short stack got taken out and we were down to 3 but my stack had gotten farily short again. I was lucky to see JJ in the SB and pushed in and got called by the BB who showed K7o. The board finished with 4 diamonds and he had the king of diamonds and I was out in 3rd.

Once again I played great and felt I really should have won this tournament. Twice I had guys in horrible shape with a chance to knock them out and both times they got very lucky. Winning either of those hands would have put me in a dominating position in the tourney.

I've taken a more aggressive approach to tournies lately and really been playing to win. This has cause me to get knocked out early in many tournies instead of barely limping into the money. This is fine with me since I know one big finish makes up for it (and also feels much better). However, this can be very frustrating since good finishes are so rare. I felt like today was my day when I made this final table and it sucks to lose like I did.

Well, that's enough ranting. I've got some errands to run and need to get my place cleaned up some. I'll post about my Vegas trip later this weekend or early next week. However, that was a frustrating trip too.