**A "Stronger Squared Poker Analysis" entry**
You're playing that tournament and the hands you see are, at the best, off suit 3-gappers. Hand after hand after hand is 9/5, 7/3, J/4 and maybe a K/3 UTG. Then the UTG (a solid player) makes a min raise which is 2-bet from UTG+1 (who's the tightest rock of a player you've ever seen). It folds to you in the hijack position (2 to the right of the button) and you look down at K/Q suited. Your heart momentarily flutters. "Ahh, FINALLY a decent hand," you say to yourself. "I haven't had a good hand in days - I've got to play this." That's a big mistake. You should fold - yet again - and wait for a hand or good situation - yet again.
Today we live in an age of instant gratification. We can get instant credit, search the web for instant answers and much more. We have little patience for anything that takes time. The average attention span for an adult is about 20 minutes (can you say 30-minute sit com). That's bad if you're a poker player. What you should do is to try and follow the example of St. Monica - the patron Saint of Patience. Years (and I mean years) of prayer, coupled with a strong, well-disciplined internal character, finally led her to convince her husband and son (later to become St. Augustine) to become pious.
Recently, I have been reminded of the value of patience several times when it comes to poker. A couple weeks back I was watching a friend of mine play a 45 person SNG on FullTilt. These pay out the top six. He made the final table (9 players) as the short stack with 7 or 8 times the BB left. He folded. He folded again. He kept folding until he was down to 3 or 4 times the BB when he went all in and doubled up. He went back to folding - living up to his home league nickname "Blind Me Down". He got down to 5 BBs, moved all in and doubled up again. He got into the money. Some more folding took place before another double up (with about 7 BBs) and a card rush propelled him to full victory (and the hefty first place prize for this was no $2.25 tourney).
Later that week I was in the bar poker league I play in. We reached final table (8 players) and I had 4BBs left. I folded and folded and folded. I was able to double up (plus a little extra) once and steal blinds once but pretty much kept folding. I got a little lucky when the big stacks decided to start to take each other on with 5 people left. Next thing I knew (in literally 6 or 7 hands) I was heads up with the chip leader. I was in terrible shape with only about 10% of the chips (about 10K in chips to 110K) and finished in second after two hands of heads up play. But, even in free bar poker, 2nd tends to pay something - 7th or 8th doesn't. I didn't needlessly push or call and was rewarded, just as Blind Me Down got rewarded.
An additional two or three clear examples of the value of patience happened to me or others I was observing since then. It's happened often enough that it seemed like a good time to write about the importance of patience and to reiterate the gem that ancient Greek poet Hesiod wrote: "If you add a little to a little, and then do it again, soon that little shall be much." Or, in poker parlance - a few double ups puts you back into the game. You are never forced to call (or push). And, sometimes, even when the "math" is right or you've FINALLY gotten a hand after being "card-dead" since Air Supply was HOT, your knowledge of the game screams at you to exercise patience (i.e. - "I'm beat, fold and wait") or, at least it should (see the example I led off with at the top).
Saint Augustine learned well from his mother (St. Monica) and wrote that: "Patience is the companion of wisdom." I hope this post reminds you of that truth.
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2 comments:
I think it's no surprise that I (blind me down) would be the first to comment and maybe the biggest supporter of this line of thought. Playing the patience game has payed off in big ways for me for quite some time. I think a big leak in my game was being too patient in the opening rounds of tournaments and playing with too tight of starting hands. But after opening that up and changing gears when it becomes necessary, my game has evolved greatly. I see too many players in the late stages of games calling off half their stack with a hand they shouldn't have even raised with just because they were short stacked and had an ace. Patience pays off. Not always. But it will in the long run.
Tonight was another perfect example of this for me. 90 player, $26 sit n go on Full Tilt. Played a larger percentage of hands at the beginning and tried keeping the pots small for pot control. Then tightened up with full tables later on in the game and waited for the hands to come to me. Made it to the final table as a short stack again and waited it out. Folded time and time again until I could double up. Then did that again and again. It's true you're playing coin flip poker for a little while, but hopefully you're getting it in ahead and winning with better odds. Finally got down to 4 people and played position and waited out the other 2. Folding hands like K Q off when its raised to me for most of my stack and waited. Finally got heads up with 35,000 against over 200,000. Way out chipped, I doubled up again and then took a big pot to get us almost even. At this point on Full Tilt it's always great to ask for a chop. You're behind, but made a big surge and the chip leader may be feeling like things aren't going his way. He agreed and we split it up. $450/477. This is $100 over the second place spot and well worth the risk not to go for the 80 more.
A big thank you to Phil for mentioning the game he witnessed a couple weeks ago and putting the reminder in my head that there's a reason for playing that way. I hope everyone takes a little bit away from what he wrote, I think its a great blog posting.
-Blind Me Down
You've had some phenomenal play lately - keep it up.
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