Every poker player gets dealt around the same hands over the long term. Yet our profits vary widely from player to player. What determines whether Player A or Player B makes a living from poker and which player is the perennial losing player? Poker is certainly not about only the cards you are dealt but how you play them. Being patient when playing poker is a key ingredient to your success at the real or online poker tables. Patience infiltrates many areas of poker and not exhibiting the right amount of it becomes a problem for any player.
You can learn all about online poker strategy but if you simply must play a hand no matter how bad it is after folding for a period of time you are going to struggle to show profits. Mike Matusow is known as one of the world’s best poker players yet he is renowned for his “Matusow Blow-outs” where he suddenly shoves with any two cards. This is impatience and his game would be far better if he controlled these mad moments and eliminated them from his poker game.
You must be patient with your bankroll. It is extremely dangerous even to play perfect poker when your bankroll does not have the tolerance for a bad run of cards. A professional poker player would love to go all-in a 60% favourite every time they shove. If you only have one buy-in, even though you are at a 60% advantage whenever some of the 40% losses hit you are busted from the game. Anyone reading this article can (hopefully) see how silly this is, yet players constantly get impatient wanting to win so badly they take undue risks to acquire these winnings. Risk management and bankroll management have a lot to do with patience and to stay in the game you must a bankroll.
Your reaction to bad beats has everything to do with your character and patience. Remember that all professional players are extremely patient. For example, consider top poker professional John Juanda. This player just sits there emotionless for hours and is happy to fold, fold, and fold some more until he gets a hand. This is an extremely patient player. This is also a very rich player from years of live poker success where to win a tournament means sitting for days at the poker table making only correct decisions. He is a good player to watch if you want to consider temperament and patience at the poker table.
To spot impatient players you should watch for signs in their playing style and table behaviour. Players who are impatient will push the action. They want to get all of the chips as quickly as possible. Impatient players will play too many hands and folding to these players is like committing a crime. Look to play strong hands against these players and do not engage in their frustration by arguing or berating them. Make good value bets because they are more likely to put their money in if they feel there is even a small chance that they may have the best hand. Let them stew in their own character flaws and then take their chips. They will learn the hard way that playing winning poker starts with having a long term outlook to the game.
If you miss the flop, fold. Holding AK after a string of terrible cards you may think you are due a good flop and to win a nice pot. Unfortunately this is not always the case sometimes the bad luck goes on and on. Do not overplay the flop by impatiently thinking “I missed the flop but I will steal this pot no matter what”. This is not a good play. If you feel frustration rising walk away from the table or crack a joke. Smile to yourself that despite your bad run of luck you are acting like a professional. Often this is only a small consolation, but it is much better than compounding your losses because you cannot keep your composure at the poker table.
By Malcolm Clarke
31. March 2010 at 7:09 pm
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