Can you be happy with 2nd place?

So I took 2nd in a 180 SnG at Poker Stars last night. That's $780 that the old bankroll definitely needed. So I should be happy, right?

There were several things that pissed me off about this tournament last night.

Lets start with no clue guy or NCG for short. We are down to the final table, 5 left. The blinds are around 1000/2000. I have a mid sized stack of about 50,000. Its folded to the short stack (lets call him "lucky there was an idiot at the table who allowed you stay in the game", or LI for short)who goes all in for his final 11,000. The big stack who happens to be NCG calls from the SB. I am in the BB and look down to find AQo. I debate my move for a minute or two. I run through my options. I could play weak here and fold, conserving my chips. I decide that is way too weak a play. I could reraise and hope to get NCG to fold, leaving only me and LI. I decided no, I am not going to reraise. I want to get some implicit collusion going here and try and knock LI out so we move up in the money. I call. The flop comes 669 with 2 diamonds. NCG decides to come out firing for about the size of the pot. I think for a minute and then fold. I am thinking that he better damn well have the nuts. Well, of course he doesn't. He's NCG for a reason. He shows K10o, while the small stack shows A7o. The turn and river do not improve either, small stack triples up, and I am fuming at NCG. We would have knocked this guy out if he would have used his head. Of course the LI went on beat me out and win the tourney, thanks to NCG who appropriately enough was the next player eliminated.

After that debacle, LI went on a rush, he eliminated the next two players and we are now heads up. LI has a little over a 3 to 1 chip lead on me now. I would like to say that I battled back and lost on a bad beat. I would like to say that, but it would be a lie. I was steaming just a bit, thinking this guy should be gone if it wasn't for NCG.

Very first hand of HU. I have the button and am dealt Kh3h. I raise 4 times the big blind. LI calls. Flop comes 8 2 4 rainbow. I bet about 3/4ths of the pot, LI goes over the top to put me all in. Who in there right mind would call here? Can anyone give me a legit reason why I hit the call button? It was about 4 a.m. at this point, so I guess I can blame it on being tired, or that fact that I thought he was trying to bully me with his chips, but still, neither justifies that completely amateur play I made. I called off my entire stack in the first hand of HU and had to settle for 2nd. I have not been able to forgive myself for that play and we are closing in on 24 hours later.

All that being said, I was fairly happy with my play up to that point. I had been on a downswing, and noticed myself coming out of it 2 nights ago. It felt really good to be making correct reads most the night, and having them pay off. I have noticed a huge improvement in me putting people on hands, playing the pot odds correctly, and playing a slightly tighter game where I can fold big hands if I feel I am beat.

Of course, all that improvement went out the window on the last hand. I didn't read LI right, I didn't fold when I felt I was beat on that hand, and the pot odds may have been there, but if they were it was just barely. Stupid, stupid play.

I left $300 on the table, and I am not sure I can forgive myself for that.