The tournament psychology - part iii

[BarryLyndon]

For the past month or so in tournament poker (I play 20s), I've been running terribly card wise. When I get AK, it's off the BB and everyone to the SB folds. When I get KK and raise MP, nobody calls. When I get 7s6s and raise MP, I get two callers. You all know how it is.

It's been about 35 hours of this now, and while I have managed to stay even BR wise by playing cash games and winning some SNGs, I am [censored] terrible in the multis. I sit and wonder how after the first hour, I have 2000 chips while players in seats 1, 2, and 3 to my left are all at 10K. While I never play TOO TIGHT (I tend to be a little on the LAG side), I find that this has lead to some FPS and some ill-advised pushes.

Of course, these pushes, these pushes come after 2 hours of getting absolutely nothing- no good pairs, no strong aces, no connectors that hit a draw or a two pair - that's when they come. I still hate myself for it afterwards...I question if I have been playing too tight in the first hour or if I could have waited another orbit.

Obviously, hand review can and has helped. But, what else can I do? I like playing closer to TAG, but man, I feel terrible about it when in the first hour, I'm next to two guys who have managed to quadruple up already.

How do you keep pace while running badly?