The bottom of the top

When you play in 6 player tournaments, you want to be in the top half all the time. The trouble is, you want even more than that. You want to be above the bottom third of the top half, i.e. above third place. So, not only do you want to avoid the bottom of the tournament, you also want to avoid the bottom of the top. If you make the bottom of the top, you've certainly achieved something, but you haven't made the money. Last night, I made the bottom of the top in 3 of the 5 tournaments I entered. That tells me I was playing well, just not quite well enough :-)

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        86     2   105000
 50000       800           6        10     6        0
 50000       800           6        33     3        0
 50000       800           6        38     3        0
 50000       800           6        75     3        0

delta: $-149,000
tournament balance: $1,478,890
balance: $6,609,621