Another personal best

Last night, I set another personal best. I've had a top 3 finish in the last 7 tournaments I've entered; my previous best was 6. I'll see if I can extend the streak tonight. This suggests a psychological ploy which might make the golden one-two feel easier to achieve. Instead of telling myself that I'm aiming for one of the top two spots, I'm going to try telling myself that I'm aiming for one of the top 3 spots, even though only the top two spots make the money. The reasoning behind this is that if I make the top 3 spots often enough, I'll get my share of firsts and seconds. It's a pretty transparent trick, but I'm hoping I fall for it :-)

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        85     1   195000
 50000       800           6        59     3        0
 50000       800           6        51     3        0

delta: $42,600
tournament balance: $940,690
balance: $6,071,421