Patience is a virtue

Patience is not my forte.  And it has been killing me at the poker tables.

I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but my game has gone all over the place the last few months.  I think it happened when I started to play at the cash tables in addition to my usual sit and go tables.  The dynamic at a $20 or $30 or $50 or even (gasp) $100 dollar SnG is much different than at a $.25 - $.50 or $.50 - $100 NL cash game.  Playing in the cahs games, I have watched guys go all in with second or third pair with a board that has straight and flush possibilities only to be called by someone with nothing better than Ace high that it affected my game and not in a good way.  I found myself chasing and calling when I should be folding or raising.  I inevitably find myself with a pair of Queens and having to decide pre-flop whether the joker who called an all in with bottom pair a couple of hands ago is tilting when he re-raises me 4 times my raise.  Do I Call or Raise or Fold?  I raise all in and find that this time he has pocket Aces.  This chasing and overplaying has unhinged my game to the point that I found myself playing A-2 off suit in early position for a raise early in a SnG tournament.  Needless to say, I didn't make the money very often with this strategy.  When I play well in a SnG is when I wait for my opportunities and not try to outplay my opponents or overplay my hands.  Pushing a flush draw or open ended straight draw is a good way to bust out early in a tournament, and the loose way people were playing in the cash games, got me to chase those draws and the infrequent catches I got in playing that way, further reinforced this gamble first mentality.  My SnG game has unfortunately suffered as a result.

So I decided to give myself one last chance at getting on track.  I loaded up some money and decided to play some SnG's when I had the time to sit and play.  At least a couple hours uninterrupted.  So I decided to rip some MP3's while playing to clear the pile of CD's from my desk.  My strategy?  Be Patient.  Be very very patient.  I wouldn't play anything but premium hands in early position and I wouldn't call re-raises with anything but a super premium hand in any position.  I only bet or bluffed at a pot if I felt there was real weakness or disinterest by the other players and I wasn't afraid to drop if I didn't think I had the best hand.  I would push people out when I made my hand and there may have been an attractive draw on the board.   I really paid attention to my position and when I would bluff or semi-bluff and got raised or re-raised, I would drop the hand and not chase.

I found myself making the money or bubbling out with a bad beat if I was short stacked.  My game was coming back to me.  I dropped A-10 in front of a raise, I would not call a re-raise with A-J, I wouldn't lose all my chips with Top pair and top kicker.  I was back.  I played what was probably my best game of poker in this run.  I stepped up to a bigger stake than I normally play and played my patient passive style and jumped in when I had good hands and found myself in the final 4, one out of the money.  I played very selective but aggressive, I was taking advantage of the fact that whenever I did show my hand it was always strong, and I started to raise with more frequency and I loosened my starting hand requirements in the short handed play.  I doubled up against one guy and then he got knocked out by the chip leader and it was down to 3 all in the money.  And I decided I was not going to be simply satisfied with finishing in the money, I wanted to win this one.  So I continued my very selective play.  I raised when I had good hands, but I didn't call raises with anything but super premium hands and I re-raised with selective hands as well.  It was a long time before anyone tried to show down against me.

The chip leader and I finally whittled the third guys chips and it was down to 2.  He had about a 2-1 chip lead over me but that didn't phase me.  He seemed to be a guy not used to playing in the higher stakes and was easily bullied off of hands.  He made a lot of minimum raises and would fold to re-raises or bets after the flop.  I won some chips and got to about even in chips and then lost a big hand but not all of my chips.  I had A 8 and I limped in form the button.  He raised me and I called.  The flop comes A high with two low cards and he bets into me.  I'm worried that he has a better kicker than I do, but i don't want to release the hand so I call.  I should have raised and then folded to a re-raise or maybe win the hand right there.  Calling was the wrong play I think.  Next card comes and it is a Jack.  This time he checks, and I am no convinced he has at least two pair, so I check behind him.  The river comes and it pairs the board (I think threes) and he makes a pot sized bet or there abouts and I am trying to figure out if what the hell is going on.  I decide that he has a better two pair than I do, and fold.  He was kind enough to inform me that he had pocket Jacks and hit a set on the turn and a boat on the river.  I was down to about the same 2-1 in ships like when we started heads up and I went back to work on winning small pots and not trying to get into too many show downs. 

I manged to get almost even in chips again, and I find myself with A-Q he raises and I decide that I this is a good enough hand to raise all in.  I don't expect a call in this situation as his standard response is to fold, but he calls and turns over A 8.  He doesn't improve and I win the hand and knock him out.  I forget exactly I think either the Queen or an Ace hit on the board.  He chats that he was getting impatient and that this was the toughest game he ever played in.  I thanked him and said he was playing tough as well, etc...  It was a nice feeling to walk away in first place after sticking to my guns and playing patient.  There were a couple of times where I did get a little lucky in show down situations, for instance, over cards hitting when the opponent had an under pair etc... but overall I didn't jeopardize my stack when I had the worst of it, and I was able to win a lot of showdowns by playing my good hands aggressively and folding my weaker hands before it got crazy.

The problem is when I go on runs like this, is I find myself playing more hands than I should.  Usually because I was rewarded for such play by in a previous game.  When you make it to the money round of a SnG you are playing more hands than when you were at the beginning of the SnG. So after finishing in the money and starting another tourney, you are in that zone when you do raise with Ace high, because you probably have the best hand against one opponent.  Against nine others, that Ace high is garbage.  So either don't play right away or be better about "down shifting" and playing patient.  We'll see how it goes the next time I play.  Whenever that is.