Talk:Elo rating system/@comment-80.163.24.209-20121126115943/@comment-5266525-20121128001112

"... only lost in the start phase..."

That's your problem. The ELO system assigns greater weight to your rating gain/loss in the first few matches to boost you to an appropriate level. If you lost the first few matches your ELO would have dropped significantly more than if your friend had lost a few games now.