The 9 max inflection point

Looking at the bar chart of the payouts of a 9 max MTT, the stark reality is that you're essentially an also-ran unless you make the final table. In the 9 max I played last night, the payouts for the players who made the final table comprised 61.99% of the prize pool. Surely you're a chump to join such a tournament - right? Actually, it all depends on how good you are. Once you've made the final table a number of times, you start believing you can do so on a fairly regular basis. That's certainly the case for me. The final table is the inflection point - if you can get to it, you're going to make some serious cash. The 1st place prize last night was a whopping $2,002,600 - more than 100 times the buy in plus the entry fee. That's what I'm talkin' about!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

POW   NLHE     2125   375       3     ?       3    1     1     6375
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    80     692  144    16    62700

?delta: $46,575
MTT NLHE balance: $2,459,148
2017 balance: $489,750
balance: $11,907,580