I kind of expected such a day. After all I had moved up to $25-50 NL tables and a 6 buy-in downswing was inevitable. I'm happy though since I didn't play bad and most of the money were lost due to bad beats. Here are a couple of interesting daily and monthly graphs and stats, along with a couple of my worst bad beats I experienced yesterday.

December was another profitable month for me in online poker. I am glad that I came out as a winner against very good poker pro's, although I continue spewing money to other regulars. SmittyUF was my best friend at Pokerstars tables during December and I did manage to make almost 9 grand off the famous "nanonoko". DidzeR and UCIPitcher were my worst enemies losing more than 15 grand to them.

December has just started and the poker leader boards show me as the top online poker winner at Pokerstars for this month at $1000NL tables. It may be early in the month, but leading the race is quite fun! The net amount is not exactly the real one as my Poker Tracker database shows, but I guess the same applies to the other players. Of course I recognize quite a few of the names below me, since they are mostly regulars at Pokerstars.

A small update on my recent poker performance: 3 days in a row I come out as a winner at the 200NL poker tables running hot and playing well. My win rate is just above 10BB/100 and I have managed to play 5,000 hands per day. I nowadays play 12 tables simultaneously which is somewhat above my multitabling skills, since I'm used to play 8 tables. Playing many hands also helped me clear a VIP Pokerstars bonus (250,000 FPPs for $4,000) which was a nice addition to my bankroll. At the moment I'm taking a break after 3,000 hands for today but I'm looking forward to playing 3,000 hands more by the end of the day.

Tilt in online poker is responsible for many players to quit on poker. Everyone has a story to tell when tilting comes to mind and I am sure they all ended losing a lot of money. That was no different of what I experienced yesterday when I lost 10 buy ins running bad at 200NL poker tables. Mind you, running bad does not mean playing bad. It is just when you get unlucky and the playing cards go always in favor of the opponent. Of course the odds will balance and eventually I will get "lucky" some other time helping my winnings to reach the expected value I was hoping for when making the moves. Until then, avoiding tilting is a major step towards making money from online poker.

Lately I don't post my personal poker statistics and graphs since people usually visit my blog to read articles about mathematics in betting or poker or to watch a trading or poker video. Besides, there's a lot more information on those posts than this one. However, from time to time it's good to let your visitors know how you are doing either in sports betting, trading or playing poker as a reminder that you are really a professional gambler after all!

Apparently, yes, I am running badly this month and my recent poker run proves it! I am $12,000 below expectation and this has also an effect to my poker game. I did not play poker that much in July, but I expected my good run to continue. June was my best month ever (including sports trading) while now July is by far the worse. I am down $21,000! Just my bad luck I guess!

I can't remember last time I was so unlucky at the poker tables. I mean pushing my money at the right time at the right place, and not getting paid! That is surely frustrating. The graph below shows the hands that I was all-in, showing the expected winnings with red and the actual winnings with blue.

Now, tell me that isn't unlucky! Here's a remarkable hand without comments.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $10 BB (6 handed) Poker-Stars

BB ($1128)
UTG ($1000)
MP ($4166.65)
CO ($2303.75)
Button ($1017)
Jimmakos ($3252)

Preflop: Jimmakos is SB with A, A.
1 fold, MP raises to $30, 2 folds, Jimmakos raises to $110, 1 fold, MP raises to $370, Jimmakos calls $260.

Flop: ($750) 5, K, 3 (2 players)
Jimmakos checks, MP bets $650, Jimmakos raises to $2882, MP calls $2232.

Turn: ($6514) 8 (2 players)

River: ($6514) 7 (2 players)

Final Pot: $6514

Results:
Jimmakos has Ad As (one pair, aces).
MP has 8h 8d (three of a kind, eights).
Outcome: MP wins $6514.

I have also stopped publishing my daily profit or loss in the right top column since no one was really interested, considering the clicks on those links.

Apparently playing poker can be an expensive hobby/job. I posted yesterday my last week's poker results and by the time I did that, I had already played some hands quite successfully. I thought the week had started pretty nice, but I would be wrong. When I logged out of the poker rooms, I was looking at my biggest all-time hit I've ever taken in my gambling career. A figure of more than $8,000.

What is more "exciting" is that I was winning over $5,000 after 1000 or so hands which of course were also lost. I played 600 and 1000NL and can't say I'll do it today. I'll just return to 400NL and hope I make it all back during this week. At least I know I can, since I made more last week.

Closing this short post, I'd like to share a hand with you which began my downswing. It is about a 500BB pot (600NL) lost although I was ahead about 87% on flop when most of the money went in.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (6 handed)

Jimmakos ($1346.30)
BB ($1717.60)
UTG ($571.80)
MP ($1736.30)
CO ($360)
Button ($3214.45)

Preflop: Jimmakos is SB with K, K.
1 fold, MP raises to $18, 1 fold, Button raises to $69, Jimmakos raises to $246, 1 fold, MP folds, Button calls $177.

Flop: ($519) 3, 2, 9 (2 players)
Jimmakos bets $423, Button raises to $2968.45, Jimmakos calls $677.30 (All-In).

Turn: ($2719.60) J (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($2719.60) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $2719.60

Results in white below:
Jimmakos has Ks Kd (two pair, kings and twos).
Button has Jd Jc (full house, jacks full of twos).
Outcome: Button wins $4587.75.

During last week I tried to play poker every day. I can't say I missed a day, although there were days when I played over 4,000 hands, and some others when I only managed almost 1,000. I ended the week in profit accumulating about 1,000 big bets in 4 different levels, ranging from 100NL to 600NL.

Let's see some interesting hands.