Variance

My recent results remind me once again of the reality of variance in poker.  On February 1st I started online play with a $50.05 deposit on Americas [sic] Cardroom.  Here are my results so far this month.  All but three tournaments were nine-player sit'n gos.

February 1-4: -$3.06
February 5-11: -$6.46
February 12-18: +$1.39
Febraury 19-25: + $18.73
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Month so far: +$10.60

So, one profitable week made up for the net negative results for the first 3 weeks.  But if we look at my results in the three $2.20 MTTs (multitable tournaments) from this month, it gets really interesting:

2/19, 12th of 65, +$1.70
2/23, 2nd of 56, +$17.27
2/24, 23rd of 59, did not cash, -$2.20

I played 86 online tournaments, and if you take out that one tournament on 2/23, I'm down for the month.  Results for a week, or a month, or sometimes even a year, can be greatly affected by the results of just one tournament.

If you're going to play this game, you better have the stomach for it.