A million dollar mistake

One major difference between cash games and tournaments is that in tournaments, there's no visible relationship between chips and money. Tournaments with vastly different buy ins can, and often do, have the same number of starting chips. This difference means it's possible to make a huge mistake when selecting a tournament, and not realize it until it's much too late. That happened to me on February 13th, 2014, when I mistakenly registered for a tournament with a buy in of $450,000, thinking I was registering for one with a $45,000 buy in. As a matter of fact, I made that mistake twice in a row before discovering my error. Very luckily for me, I made the money in both tournaments. Last night, I wasn't so lucky. Through some strange fluke, thinking I was registering for a tournament with a $22,500 buy in, I actually registered for one with a $900,000 buy in, plus a $100,000 entry fee. I came in fourth, and just like that, my bankroll had shed a million play dollars. That dwarfs the most money I'd previously lost playing a single sit and go, which was a mere $201,500. Last night's $1,030,500 loss is also a career worst, topping the $1,024,500 I lost on July 21st, 2012. All I can say is "Ouch" :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    22500   2500       6    52     2    47250
SNG   NLHE    45000   5000       6    23     5        0
SNG   NLHE    22500   2500       6    29     5        0
SNG   NLHE   900000 100000       6    29     4        0
SNG   NLHE    22500   2500       6   103     2    47250

delta: $-1,030,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $223,200
balance: $7,442,272