Feast or famine

Last night, each tournament I entered was feast or famine; either I made the money, or I didn't come anywhere close. I discovered it was much easier to claim I was going to avoid early exits than it was to back up that claim. However, this difficulty reminded me of something I'd forgotten about tournaments. You have to play them bravely; when you do, a fair amount of the time you're going to hit the felt early. Tournaments are definitely not for the meek, yet neither are they for the foolhardy. The trick is to be neither meek nor foolhardy; it's a tall order!

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 45000      5000           6        38     1   175500
 45000      5000           6         6     6        0
 45000      5000           6        13     5        0
 45000      5000           6         4     6        0
 45000      5000           6        22     1   175500
 45000      5000           6        77     2    94500

delta: $145,500
tournament balance: $789,090
balance: $7,671,789