That big spike in the middle there represents the following hand:

A bad beat in a crucial spot. If I win that pot, I’m in very good shape to take down the tournament, obviously.

However, not everything can be blamed on brutal variance. I have been making some bad decicions with 18 or less people left, which have cost me at least 2 final tables. It seems like I want to make that final table SO bad that I can’t handle the stress and spew away all my chips at a certain point, because of fear of getting blinded out (although I have a healthy stack). Again, something to work on. I decided to play at least 51 more of these $2.50 buy-ins before stepping up.

And finally for the graph-lovers:

As a result I haven’t played that much poker this month, although I did go on a poker weekend with a friend of mine at the beginning of July. We spend 2 and a half days playing 1/2€, but mainly due to some crazy suck-outs (I had aces cracked twice when a monkey moved all-in with an underpair and made a set) I booked a 570€ loss.

After that weekend I only played in two 1/1€ games, but because of very bad play I lost five 100€ buy-ins. As a result I lost my whole profit of the month June, and 25% of my live bankroll. Time to slow down a bit and think things over.

And the other hand, my online LHE experiment is going quite well. It’s been on a hold a few weeks, but I started playing again two days ago. I know, I know, a few session don’t tell everything, but I’m pretty confident that this experiment will allow me to build a decent online bankroll. Especially when the hands keep coming and the other players keep playing like morons.

I’ll keep you all posted.