A basket of improbables

If you play poker long enough, you're bound to see improbable things happen. They'll make a big impression on you, by the very nature of their improbability. You should try never to complain when you lose a hand due to an improbability, since by the law of averages you're going to win your share of improbable hands over time.

Last night, the final tournament I played was a basket of improbables (to put a twist on a Hillary Rodham Clinton locution :-)) The first improbable was that the turnout was so low, only 8 places were paid, even though it was a 9 max tournament. That meant a player could actually make the final table but not make the money. The second improbable was that I became that player :-) The third was that I never would have done so had I not lucked out on hand 82 and won a fall in with a super weak holding of 74o (seven four offsuit).

Even though I played well, I had the seventh worst session of my career, delta-wise. Had I managed to make the money in that final tournament, I would only have lost $26,000, instead of more than half a million. C'est la guerre :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    50      76   18    47        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    41      63   15    48        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   121     123   30    19    99000
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    95      40    8     9        0

delta: $-551,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $12,018,000
2017 balance: $12,976,225
balance: $24,394,055