Still running that last hand through my head

Sitting at Starbucks at foggy Dublin Airport and for the whole night and the whole morning I can't get this dammned exit hand out of my head. Did I made a mistake here that cost me my tournament or did I do it right?

Well, I finally came to the conclusion that the answer is yes and no! ;-)

If I played this hand a thousand times it was a crucial mistake not to take the free card he offered me by checking his hand. Why? By betting here I usually want to aquire one of two goals: either make him fold or gain information. But knowing that he is a gambler I should have known that my percentage to make him fold had been reduced drastically compared to other opponents. On the other hand a bet or an all-in from him doesn't really gain me information. It could either be a hand or a total bluff. So the money invested was invested on the wrong spot. Therefore generaly I played this hand wrong against this specific opponent.

But ... if I had played it correctly and checked ... the Jack on the turn would have then created the same outcome. If he checked again I then had bet and of course called his all-in (I doubt he had folded). If he bet I would have pushed against him (and again he wouldn't have folded). So in that specific hand I was doomed from the moment I played it.

There was only one way to avoid this desaster: Not playing this hand at all. But being on the button with AJ and everybody had folded to me in a seven-handed game this wasn't an option ... not with still 5 players left to the money.

Lesson learned but somewhat relieved that my "mistake" wasn't deceicive for the outcome of the tournament. Hopefully I can now get this hand to a rest and look forward as I gained so much positive from this weekend for future tournaments.