Day 30 - 0 hands $0Monthly earnings: $15.186

I have just upgraded my internet connection to flatrate. Unfortunatly my internet service provider managed to make some mistake in the process and I have been without internet for the last two days.
To be honest the break has probably done me good, but it still sucks loosing your internet connection.

I have this one day left of October, so I won't make this my last post of the month. But I don't suspect I will be playing much tonight. I have some plans with friends and I also need to get up tomorrow at a reasonable time.

Day 28 - 1.089 hands - $641Monthly earnings: $15.186

Despite the loss I am very happy about yesterdays session. I 4 tabled $5/$10 at Full Tilt Poker for more than 1.000 hands and I think I played well throughout. I got sucked out of a big pot, so I ended the day down. But it wasn't a big enough loss to make me feel bad about it, especially when I think I played well.

33 in the Small Blind: The reason I call this river, is because I have difficulty putting my opponent on a hand he wouldn't rather check behind on this river, so I take his bet as a signal that he doesn't have a hand. But truth be told I probably should have folded on the turn.

If I can manage to get my discipline up and 4 table 1.000+ hands of $5/$10 each day, I am pretty sure I can double my monthly earnings to about $30.000.

Playing like that is hard though, especially when you have to deal with $1.000 suck outs each day. Although it is not something I think I'll be able to discipline myself to do within this next month, I'll try my best to aim towards it.

Day 27 - 447 hands - $1.171Monthly earnings: $15.828

Yesterday went kind of good except for one Heads-Up session where I got stacked three times. I think I played fairly well both Heads-Up and six handed, luck just didn't smile my way.
That doesn't mean I didn't make some mistakes along the way though:

K5 on the Button: I thrust my read here and I fail miserably. At the time I was hoping to see something like JJ or QQ if he called, but I knew that I could be outkickered and drawing pretty slim aswell.
He lured me in I guess with his weird overbet, which he had used a couple of times earlier.

I am not feeling too well today, so I think I'll take a day's break from poker.

Day 26 - 569 hands $2.200Monthly earnings: $17.001

Today treated me well. I played well and I got some cards, always a good mix.

I feel I have a better view on my own play now to how I have viewed my play in the past. This month's success has built my confidence and these last days of variance have balanced my perspective again.

As something new a friend asked me to feature this hand:

AQs on the Button: I perhaps should have bet out the full pot of $100 on the flop. On the turn I decide to check it, betting again is certainly also an option to consider.
On the river I make a thin value raise. There is a good chance I get called and I want the added $130 of value, but in order for that bet to give it's value over the long run, I have to be able to fold it to a raise.

Stupidly though I actually said I folded the Queen of Hearts to my opponent, now I would have to call this raise in the near future against him because he knows I can lay the hand down, which in turn makes me unable to make these kind of thin value raises against that particular opponent for some time to come.
I should have kept my mouth shut.

Day 25 - 1.091 hands - $633Monthly earnings: $14.801

I don't feel bad about yesterdays session. The loss didn't even get my mood down, because I was very satisfied about the quality of my game. Luck just had a loss in store for me yesterday, as it will have from time to time.

I again played a bit of Heads-Up and I really enjoy it. I hope it will turn out to be both a profitable and learning experience.

A7o on the Button: Here is a blunder of a call from a Heads-Up match. It takes a number of hands before I get a good read on my opponent. Here I trust my instincts too early in the match.

My monthly goal was over 10 days ago. I am glad I didn't set myself a new goal based on the results I got from my first two weeks of October. It would just have gotten my spirits down to fail so miserably.

I had a good run in the beginning of the month and I am having a bad one now, I don't know to what extent luck has evened itself out by now but I think I am nearing an accurate winrate for my skill level.

Day 24 - 246 hands $1.316Monthly earnings: $15.435

Another nice win and times are looking up again. I played some Heads Up NL yesterday and it gave good. I have been interested in trying it out, but have been a little afraid of the competition being too good. Yesterday was a pleasant experience, so I am probably going to try it again.

TT in the Cut Off: I am a bit disappointed that I didn't either get all my opponents money or folded this hand. I think I need to take a decision on this turn whether to fold or to push, but I am not sure. At the time I thought his bet was a bit on the big side to have turned a flush, so with the added outs for the full house and the middle high flush I decided to call.

AQ on the Button: I really don't like the way this hand played out. My best course of action I think is to not continuation bet the flop here and just let my opponent take it if he bets and I don't improve on the turn. It is a weak line, but I just can't see a better option.

These last couple of days have made me realize that I am not so skilled as to be able to avoid variance.

If I do choose to play some more Heads Up I know my variance will go up aswell. So loosing days are to be expected from time to time I have just been lucky in not having that many of them this month.

Day 23 - 810 hands $646Monthly earnings: $14.118

Yesterday actually started out just as bad as the previous days. I was loosing coinflips and getting bad beat and before I knew it I was nearing $1.000 in the hole again.
But I kept at it and slowly grinded myself back into the green.

I think I will celebrate my return to winning poker by updating my profile picture with this new "happy" me.

When I feature hands I usually show one where I should have been able to make a good laydown. Because of that I often get the image of being very tight to those who know my play from reading my blog.
But when my reads are working, I make loose and tough calls aswell.

22 from Middle Position: I know that this player wouldn't make these bets if he had a hand, he usually doesn't show aggression on later streets. Although I don't know if I would be able to make this call if the river was a diamond or a heart.
And no I havn't made bad calls with stupid hands before this one. I only make this kind of call when I am almost positive I have my opponent beat.

Lets hope the good times last so I can get my confidence back.

Day 22 - 856 hands - $1.326Monthly earnings: $13.471

Just a couple of days ago me and a friend were talking through Skype. He was telling me how impressed he was of the lack of bad days I have had this month and I was bragging about my skill being so high that variance had become negligible.
Well I take it back, I can still run bad.

I am going to try to be indifferent about the loss. I'll try not to shy away from higher limits and play as good poker as I would, were these last two days winners. But I always get paranoid about my game after a bad run.

My irregular sleeping pattern has made me loose a day of poker and blogging. I'll skip day 21 and entitle this entry day 22 to get back on track.

The month isn't over yet and still it has gone better than I dared hope. Much can happen still and hopefully I can get my game back and make up for these last two days with what time I have left in october.

Day 20 - 1.057 hands - $1.377Monthly earnings: $14.797

Bummer!

I really feel tired and beat after today's grind, so this won't be long. I didn't play my "A" game today, but I didn't play that bad either. I guess the cards didn't come my way and my focus wasn't sharp enough to minimize the losses.

I don't think I could have ended the day at a positive, but I could have dodge some of the beats.

QQ in the Cut Off: On a good day I might have been able to lay this down on the flop.

Weekend isn't over yet, there might be some money still to be made. So I best get some sleep if I want to take a shot again tomorrow. I do look forward to taking a days rest or two though in the not too distant future.

Day 19 - 1.069 hands - $288Monthly earnings: $16.174

I wanted to play a little more today, to see if I could turn the day into a win. But I think it is best to quit the day and preserve my strength for the weekend I have ahead of me.
I played alot against strong opponents today. It didn't take too many bad hands before I started thinking people were pushing me around. This was my biggest blunder of the day:

A6s on the Button: How often I look at the hand I still can't believe that it is me playing.
Just good old fashion tilt I guess, I have to remember how bad my judgement can become.

At some point today I was more than $1.000 in the hole. But after a couple of sessions more I managed to lessen the loss.

QQ in the Big Blind: I really felt I was beat on this river. I managed to talk myself into a call, because I had played the hand weak and I thought my opponent might have picked up on that weakness.
Meanwhile my opponent is clearly saying he can beat one pair here, I just wasn't listening. I wonder how the hand would have played out if I would have lead out on the flop.

I am looking forward to playing this weekend. I have some tournament freeroll lined up on Full Tilt, I might give that a try aswell.

Day 18 - 691 hands $1.594Monthly earnings: $16.462

I have been running good this month, no question about that. But these last couple of days I have suffered a number of bad beats and I still end up for the day. Today I owe that to a good beat though, I got dealt Kings and sucked out against Aces, here is the hand:

KK from Under the Gun: The game is four handed, so I three-bet pre-flop, I don't think that was a mistake. I kind of knew that our money was going into the middle before I checked this flop, so I decided incase he had something like AK with the Ace of clubs to check/call instead of pushing.
Perhaps I misplayed this hand somewhere, I am not sure. I will have to give it some more thought. I am pretty sure that I can't find a fold in this hand though, I am not familiar enough with the opponent to make that kind of laydown.

I have been very happy with my game this month. I am crushing the competition and playing with very little variance. But I am starting to see there is much room for improvement still. I should start to open my game up more against some opponents. Players also give a lot more information away about their hands than I know how to pick up on.

This is very good news, because it means I can get better than I am now. Thereby improving my winrate and perhaps moving further up in limits.

Day 17 - 701 hands $676Monthly earnings: $14.868

I have been trying to get a normal sleeping pattern these last few days and I have been unsuccessful. A steady pattern is important for mental and physical health and I feel I need to get my rythm sorted out.

Poker is still good though. I played both on Party Poker and Full Tilt Poker yesterday and I don't find much competition on either site.

56s on the Button: This hand is heads-up on Party Poker, so I have the Button in the Big Blind. I misplayed this hand. For me to have enough folding equity against whatever range my opponent has, I think the board needs to be a bit more scary, with perhaps a straight or a flush already possible.
Or I simply shouldn't push a draw like this ever on the turn. Draws are pushable on the flop, sets on the turn. Sounds like a good rule.

I am still trying to get my sleeping pattern fixed and trying to keep up my daily walks. If I want to stay sharp, I need to put some effort into it.

Day 16 - 56 hands $698Monthly earnings: $14.192

I felt like taking a break from poker yesterday. A friend came over and we talked some poker, so I sat in on a table while we talked and played a few hands.

AA in the Cut Off: I managed to pick up two aces in my short session. The fellow re-raising pre-flop is a capable player so I decide to just call. This isn't something I do often with aces, but at this level against good players I am starting to add some deception pre-flop.

I have some more non-poker related activities planned for today, but I think I will play a few hands before I go to bed tonight. Already I feel the break is doing me good though, as my mind slowly gets clear of all the bad beats and big wins of the past week.

Day 15 - 246 hands $1.436Monthly earnings: $13.494

I havn't really decided what to set my new monthly goal at. I thought about Sit & Go's and tournaments, but after trying out a Sit & Go yesterday I knew that it was something I didn't want to start.

I'll keep posting results. I think people enjoy reading pokerblogs more when they see the up's and down's in clear numbers, I know I do.

Sofar this year I havn't known how to do with taxes and poker. Faroese law doesn't really say much about poker, so I have been dreading that I might be doing something illegal or that someone might decide to take a full 50% tax cut from poker winnings.
So it came as good news when a lawyer went on the radio and explained how poker fit into faroese law. In short I need to pay 15% of my winnings in taxes. Not too bad.

Day 14 - 616 hands $1.145Monthly goal $12.000 @ $12.058!

What can I say other than that I am utterly amazed. The month hasn't reached it halfway mark yet and I have made my goal already. I haven't really had time to think what I should do if I reached it this fast. So I can't say more than I don't know what I am gonna do now.
I do feel like I need a break. My birthday is coming up so I might cut a bit down on my playing these next couple of days. I should atleast set my self a 24-hour without-poker break soon.

One thing I do have planned is cashing out some big bucks. I have more than an ample bankroll for the limits I am currently playing, so I should get some of this money invested.

I must say moving up to $5/$10 was easier than I imagined. I have played on a couple of tables I would consider tough for the limit and I still feel like the best player.
Looking forward I don't know when I will dare to sit at a $10/$20 table, but it isn't anything I have planned for this year.

It seems kind of lame to just set myself an even higher mark as a continued goal for this month and aiming for some goal at Omaha or Seven Card Stud won't make for as exiting reading, I think. So what I am left with is aiming for a fixed number of hands to play, or some goal involving NL Hold'Em tournaments.
I am gonna sleep on it and hopefully come up with a wothwhile and interesting second goal for what is left of the month.

Day 13 - 125 hands $2.403Monthly goal $12.000 @ $10.912

Yesterday was crazy, I found a maniac table where someone was bluffing every hand and I really cashed in on it. I guess people were drunk and playing poker yesterday. Luckily I was sober and able to get my share of all the money that was being thrown around.

I had started up a couple of tables, but I soon found out I wasn't concentrating on any table other than the maniac table. I decided to shut the other tables down and that is the reason my hand count is so small for yesterday.
There weren't really any interesting hands, I was really just playing a lot of hands hoping to hit a flop hard enough so I could take on the barrage of bluffs that would inevitably come. One set of trips and two flushes later I am $2.400 up after an hours work.

My friends and I also played two Sit & Go's yesterday. By sheer luck I ended up winning one of them. I haven't played well in Sit & Go's as of late, I should look into getting some practice online perhaps.

While looking at computer prices yesterday, my brother and I stumbled upon a awesome mouse, the Logitech G5. I just couldn't help but buy it. Here is a picture:

Logitech G5

The mouse I had before might have had an influence in causing my shoulder pains. Hopefully this one will threat me nicer.

Day 12 - 452 hands $1.889Monthly goal $12.000 @ $8.509

Yesterday was a good session. I played quite a number of hands against good players, but all the time I felt I had an edge so I kept playing.

As soon as I notice a player is good, I give him some respect. Usually I don't get the same treatment. If players notice I play a decent game, they start battling it out against me, trying to win dominance over the table. I think it is stupid wasting energy against the best player at the table instead of focusing on the bad players, but when a good player willingly seeks out my action by reraising and playing back at me, my only choices are to leave the table or to make a stand.

Well yesterday I was faced with this choice multiple times and chose to make a stand. There came a number of difficult decisions out of it, but in the end I managed to end the day a big winner. How profitable the decision to play against other good players is might be questionable. But there is no question that it improves my game a lot, and my confidence if I manage to win.

QQ in the Cut Off: This is the hand from yesterdays session that haunts me the most. My opponent make a good laydown on the turn I think. I can't help but think I got lucky on the turn and missed some value aswell.

Here are my pokertracker stats for the month of October:

I hoped for a larger number of hands played.

I'd like to get my River AF a bit up, but I am very happy about my winrate sofar.

Day 11 - 786 hands $915Monthly goal $12.000 @ $6.620

My first session today didn't go well. My brother was downloading and I felt the delay with each click. Just a little distraction like that amazingly brings my game down several grades. I loose my reads and my feel for the tables, when I loose my focus.
Here is a hand from my early session:

JTs in the Cut Off: The villains bet on the flop makes me think he has an overpair on the turn. I know he doesn't have a flush, I don't think he has a set, so I jam it in when I make top two. If I had more time to think about the hand I think I could have found a fold on the turn, but I'm not sure.

My brother was downloading The Saga of Ryzom. It's an MMORPG that has gotten promising reviews. But my brother and I found it a bit too anime'ish to our liking, so we are gonna keep looking for a good game to play.

In Ryzom, even the big monsters have a cute anime look to them

After his download finished I opened up a couple of good looking $5/$10 NL CAP tables at Full Tilt. The CAP means that in no hand can any player bet more than 30 Big Blinds, so $300 at $5/$10. I often play short stacked the first few hands I play at a table and CAP is not much different than playing short stacked. It suits me well and hopefully will prove to be profitable.

It sure did prove profitable today, where I turned a $400 loss into a $900 win, by mostly just making simple correct pre-flop decisions.

Day 10 - 286 hands $445Monthly goal $12.000 @ $5.705

My day didn't start out too well. In the actual first hand I play I get dealt two Kings and loose a buy-in to two Aces at $3/$6, a couple of hands later I quit the session at about $700 down.

After a day playing board games with friends I logged back on to give poker another try for the day. I played good and the cards treated me well. After a short while I had turned a loosing day into a winner.

Q9s on the Button: This isn't that difficult a call, I like the fact that I caught a bluff, but I would have liked a diamond river even better.
The reason the call isn't that difficult to make is the size of the river bet. The pot is $54 and the villain bets $50.

I am doing well in regards to my monthly goal. At this point I need to be at about $4.000 and I am comfortably ahead of schedule. There is nothing wrong with earning more than my preset goal though, so I just need to press onwards and play some cards.

I have been playing very few hands each day lately. Because of that I feel a bit bad if I take a day off from poker. Hopefully I can play enough these next couple of day, so that I can take a day off without feeling like I am skipping work.

Day 9 - 555 hands $1.617Monthly goal $12.000 @ $5.259

I had two good sessions today. Most of the profit comes from the first session, where I got some very good hands. I think I played well throughout the day, but there were a couple of hands that tested my ability.

Q2s in the Small Blind: What bothers me about this hand is the value I miss on the river. I am pretty sure this opponent will call my all-in with a rivered two pair.
I know now that the correct play on this river, taking my opponents stack into consideration, is to push.

My earnrate sofar this month is surprising me a bit. How much of it is luck and how much is an increase in skill is still unknown to me, but I am pretty sure it is a mix of both.

TT on the Button: This opponent has been reraising a bit too frequently preflop, so I decide to see a flop with TT.
I am still unsure if I could have played the hand diffrently. I keep thinking the river is just random unluck and not a result of bad play, but in theory he could have had AQ or AK. With that many outs, giving a free card might not have been the right play.

Day 8 - 246 hands $494Monthly goal $12.000 @ $3.642

I have renamed my titles, so they fit better in the right column. "Sofar" has been replaced with an "@" sign.

My session yesterday was quite like the others I have played this month. I am setting a trend for myself in playing short but focused sessions. If that is for better or for worse time will tell.

AJs Under the Gun: This hand bothers me a bit. This is the third hand in a short time span where I raise pre-flop and get called by this opponent. The other two hands he has called my continuation bet and taken it down uncontested on the turn by a bet of his own.
If it is well played or not I am not sure of yet.

I am on a reload bonus at Full Tilt at the moment and I also have some rakeback saved up, so I am getting a nice helping hand with my earnrate.

Day 7 - 120 hands $1.050Monthly goal $12.000 @ $3.148

I had a good run yesterday and made a nice score. I thought I played more hands than I did, but I did go out with some friends so I guess I cheated work a bit.

I played mostly at $5/$10 and the higher stakes paid off. The tables were good and people were in a bluffing mood. I got a couple of good hands and cashed in on them.

ATo on the Button: At the time this hand came up, I had won a couple of big hands without showdown. So I was waiting for a couple of the players to play back at me with mediocre holdings if I kept up the aggression. It was still a tough push to make with only top pair, but I knew it was the right play.

I started the session of really bad, I played perhaps 10 hands totally unfocused doing other things in the meanwhile.
After I caught myself making a bad call I sat out at the tables until I could turn my attention properly towards the game.

K4o in the Big Blind: This was the hand that made me sit out for a couple of minutes. I just shouldn't have called on the turn here. The river bet is fine as long as I fold to the raise, which I again didn't.
Luckily I sat out in time to cut my losses or todays session could easily have been a train wreck.

Non online poker related news:

Today I have just been sleeping my day away. My friends and I played a board game based on the series Babylon 5. The game is new to us and we took way to big a scenario. It lasted through the night and into the morning and we stopped before it ended cause people had to get up again the next day.

My brother played in a local Dota tourney yesterday. Dota is a very popular custom map for Warcraft. He and his clan came in first and he won a 500 GB hard drive, so congratulations to him.

Day 6 - 389 hands $372Monthly goal $12.000 @ $2.097

Yesterdays session isn't that fresh in my mind. Looking through the hands again I see that nothing much happened. The profit mostly comes from standard play.
I should pick one hand to feature, so I might aswell go with the hand where I lost the most.

A2s in the Big Blind: The Button had been getting out of line with his raises and I had been looking for a hand to fight back with. I decided to call with this hand.
I know I didn't play the hand well, but it is difficult to point out any major mistake. If I were to play the hand over again, I guess I would bet out either on the flop or on the turn.

My friends and I gathered for two live Sit and Go's yesterday aswell. I didn't fare to well, not cashing in either. I planned on playing some more poker when I got home afterwards, but fell asleep before I got to it.

I havn't got anything planned yet for today, so I should be able to get some work done.

Day 5 - 604 hands $917Monthly goal $12.000 @ $1.725

I played on Party Poker today. I was a bit intimidated at first, all the players seemed to play a tight game. I soon realized that the players were just as bad as always, I just happened in on some passive tables.

I am glad that I am pulling up on schedule again on my monthly goal. I should be at about $2.000 by now, and I am not that far off.

I think that my biggest obstacle at this point is not playing enough hands. There is always something else to do each day when I wake up. I have alot of TV series to watch, my friends are always up to something and there are a number of computer games I wanna try out.
I hope to keep some discipline and stay on target throughout the month.

JTs on the Button: This was my biggest winner of todays session. I had just overbet pushed a couple of hands earlier, so I thought he'd definatly call me with any two pair and maby even some one pair hands like AJ or AT. When I pushed though he took a long while before he called. Since he did that with a set, perhaps I wouldn't have gotten a call out of two pair.

Day 4 - 233 hands $524Monthly goal $12.000 @ $808

Again I confirm my theory that all I need to make my monthly goal, is to avoid playing when not focused.

When I sit at a table I have a hard time judging just how good or bad my play is. I have an idea of where it is at, but I never think I play much worse than my normal game. After a session, before I write my blog, I look through the big hands of a session in pokertracker. There I am amazed of how much my play differs from an "A" game session to an unfocused one.

KJo in the Cut Off: Here is a perfect example of my game when I am concentrated. In my standard game I would not have played any street of this hand the same way. But in this hand I am confident in my reads and use them to make what I think are the right plays throughout the hand.

Day 3 - 260 hands $487Monthly goal $12.000 @ $283

I played few hands yesterday, but I kept them easy and simple. If I want to reach $12.000, I need to average about $400 a day. Yesterday through simple solid play I got $487 in less than an hours work.

I have to remember that I do this to earn money and nothing else. Whatever path gets me the most money in the end is the right one.

ATs Under the Gun: I usually try to keep the pot small in hands like this. But I was so confident about both our holdings in this hand, that I went for a check/raise on the turn.

Both yesterday and today I have made plans with friends, so the number of hands I am able to play will suffer. It doesn't bother me though, as it seems to be the quality of play rather then the quantity that is hampering my winrate at the moment.

Day 2 - 1.077 hands - $233Monthly goal $12.000 @ - $204

I started today with a good session on $5/$10, I was focused and ended about $400 up.

Later I sat down again, this time at $3/$6.
I played way too long a session, loosing focus after about an hour. I started doing other things while playing, browsing and chatting. After a while I noticed I had lost any feel for the tables I was sitting at and all reads I had on players were gone. Still I kept playing and managed to throw away what profit I had grinded for the day plus some.

This is my second day in a row where I have not logged out when I have known it to be the smart move. Without any hard work I could easily be on track with my monthly goal, but instead I put my money in jepordy at the tables playing unfocused and tireing mylsef of poker at the same time.

I think I'll install a good computer game, so that when my mind starts to wander after a long session I have an easy alternative to poker. Hopefully it won't come back to haunt me, taking too much time away from work.

KK in the Small Blind: This is a perfect spot to push on the flop after he raises. I thought about it when in the hand but decided to call instead. I soon saw that I was lost in the hand, and wished I had pushed on the flop.

Day 1 - 822 hands $28Monthly goal $12.000 @ $28

I didn't play well in my first session of the day. There were a couple of really juicy $3/$6 tables at Full Tilt Poker, so I made the mistake of opening 4 right of the bat and sitting in with a full stack. The players were really aggressive and I was put to some tough decisions early on, without any reads on my opponents. I lost about a buy-in ($600) before I saw I needed to shape up.

Second session of the day started with a suckout, so I had a hard climb back up to even. Not that I usually try to make even again each loosing day. When I did the math I just noticed I had ended back just above zero.

A7s in the Small Blind: I am a bit lost in this hand. The game got three handed and I picked this hand to punish the Button who had been raising liberally. I still am unsure how I should have played, if indeed the hand shall be played at all.
Perhaps it is better to re-raise with something like all pocket pairs instead pre-flop. That way post-flop decisions are easier.

It does feel good playing online poker again. I just need to remember, when my concentration isn't at it's peak, to limit the number of tables I play.

Monthly Goal: $4.000 - I only made $2.253

If you havn't been following my blog, most of this month has been spent in Malta and Denmark vacationing. That is why I set myself a modest goal for the month. The sad part is I came in short.

I'd like to blame bad beats or cold cards for my shortcommings, but I can't. The only reason I didn't make it, is because I didn't play enough poker.

With this in mind I'd like to set my monthly goal for October at a reachable level. Offcourse I plan on making some non monetary goals, such as playing more $5/10, but I feel a totally materialistic goal is a sweet thing to aim for aswell. I think $12.000 seems reachable and will be a challenge aswell.

I have learned a couple of things this month.
Firstly I don't loos much training by taking a vacation. I don't forget what I know in two weeks of inactivity. But my bad beat/tilt tolerance gets somewhat out of practice.
Secondly I believe that a player can greatly reduce the effects of variance through training. Some good players have bad runs that last months, others seem never to even have a negative day. This offcourse has to do with the style each player has and the skill he has of avoiding variance.

I sometimes sit at a table with a superior player than me, but after the session I am ahead in winnings. I have played worse but more profitable poker.
The superior player concentrates on outplaying me by mixing up his game and studying my betting patterns and at the end of the day perhaps he has won $50 from me. Meanwhile I have been trying to steer clear of him and instead focusing my energy on the 4 bad players at the table winning $200 from them.