Instinct and Patience

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nice post, i know exactly what you mean, the hardest thing i'm going to have to beat in poker is me

Great post, Ripp. Thanks for sharing.


They say that you should never bring your ego to a poker table. I always try to remember that when I start feeling worked-up. But yes.. it is difficult sometimes.

I played in a 120 seat charity event this weekend and won it. Admittedly it wasn't a WSOP event and there were probably only about 20 really good players in it. But I went in committed to a strategy suggested on this site. I took the long view and was determined NOT to make stupid plays that would put me out. I played only premium hands for the big money, and left my ego at the door - and it was hard to do!

I watched hand after hand where an all-in with something like pocket 9s got lucky and beat pocket Js or bought a good sized pot. I watched players make big mistakes and put together decent bankrolls, only to lose it an hour later on with a similar low odds play.

I got crap cards for about an hour early on and stayed about even. Then I started to lose it to the increasing blinds. On one hand I raised with AJs and the flop gave me the flush draw. Somebody raised all-in (probably with top pair) and I was soooo tempted. I could just see hitting my flush and doubling up! Normally I would have figured my odds, and with about 2:1 to hit and better than that in the pot, I would have called. Then I remembered something from Harvey Penick's little Red Book of Golf. Harvey says when putting you should just roll the ball up there "AND GIVE LUCK a CHANCE". I figured if I didn't make my flush, and got knocked out, I would miss all of those hands where I might flop the flush or some other monster and miss the chance to really nail that sucker. So I folded.

Three hands later I took most of his stack when he tried the same move against my top two pair. From there I was able to use my chip lead to wait out the big hands.

I was so tempted to "get back in the game" by doubling up on a mediocre hand, but somehow I resisted. At one point I finally started getting cards and in about 30 minutes had built my stack to a respectable level. When we got down to two tables, I found myself just behind the chip leader. Then I switched tactics a little bit and used my stack to buy a few pots and put short stacks all-in with mediocre hands. If somebody had the stack to really hurt me, though, I was cautious.

Anyway, the strategy and some patience paid big time. The payout was over $4100 ($100 buy-in) and now I'm bankrolled to really learn how this game works (got my wife off my back for playing so much poker too!)

This reminds me of 2 comments I've heard that I've always thought made sense.

1. Hardest thing to do is lay down a mediocre hand when you've been getting crap all night.

2. You should try to win one big pot an hour.

what about most pro's excellent ability to read people?