Stud Tournament

I recently played a small buy in seven card stud tournament. I know that stud is not my best game, so I wanted to get some practice in more than anything else. I probably played my best stud in a long time and ran into some unfortunate spots. I had held an average chip stack through most of the tournament when the following hand came up. I was sitting to the right of the bring in and one other player called the bring in. I had an ace up, so this is an automatic completion bet. I completed and both players behind me called. On fourth street, I picked up another ace, giving me just a pair of aces. Neither of my opponents improved on fourth, so I bet the larger amount and was called in both spots again. I now was concerned about my hand a bit. I caught a blank on fifth street, but my opponents did also. Knowing that my pair was good, I bet again and got two calls. I catch another ace on sixth street and fire once again and I finally get one player to fold. I checked in the dark on 7th as I knew my opponent had a draw that could beat the 3 aces I held. He checked behind me and commented that he was checking just in case I filled up. I didn't fill up and he made a flush on 7th. So sick. This player called on 3rd with nothing; picked up a gutshot on 4th and a flush draw on 5th that got home on 7th. I hate it when people chase and catch. It is very frustrating for solid players like myself.

Although I just lost a big pot, I still had some chips to play with and wasn't in a desperate mode yet. I move tables and played a big pot with a short stacked player. He was betting the whole way and I put him all in on 5th street with just A-K high. It was better than his K-10 high. My read was right. I end up with A-K-Q-J-9 on 7th--the best nothing you can have. My opponent caught a pair of 3s on 7th. There is not much I could have done on that one. I was now in a bit of a desperate mode and got it all in on 4th with 4 over cards to my opponents pair of 4s. On sixth street, I had 6 over cards to his pair. I made a pair of jacks on 7th, but my opponent made two pair. Just like that I was done. I made it down to the final 4 tables, and only two were getting paid. I can feel reassured that I played well during the event, but was frustrated about getting unlucky in some key spots. As they say, that's poker.