If It Was Real: 240-Game Report

Ugh; slumps aren't much fun. And we've been in one lately at live tournaments -- missing the final table our last nine times in a row. Admittedly that could be due to our usual decision to buy only one soda for "bonus chips," while others buy shot after shot for 5,000 chips each. But we like to think it adds to the challenge.

We've played in 20 live tournaments since 2011 began. They've led us to only four final tables, and only one top-five finish; a tie for third at The Red Barn 24 January. Using our formula borrowed from a Kansas City casino, that leaves our overall record this way if we plunked down real money:

BUY-INS: 240 nights x $50 = $12,000

First -- 5 ($2,500)
TIE for first: 1 ($450)

Second - 8 ($3,200)

Third -- 9 ($2,700)
TIE for third: 1 ($250)

Fourth - 10 ($2,000)
TIES for fourth:
4 two-way ($600)
1 three-way ($67)

Fifth -- 13 ($1,300)
TIE for fifth: 3 ($150)

TOTAL -- 55 for $13,217

We once had a return on our pretend investment of more than 50 percent. It's shrunk dramatically in the last year, and now is only 10.1 percent.

But on the bright side, we still finish in the top five almost 23 percent of the time. So if you'll excuse us, we have some catching-up work to do....