The Value of Patience in Poker

Poker is a game of exploiting the mistakes of your opponents. A common mistake that you will see at the tables is players losing their patience. This can lead to entering a pot without a solid hand, inappropriate bluffing and a wide range of other mistakes. This article looks at the value of patience in poker – both while playing a specific game and in the broader context of your game in general.

We start by looking at two ways in which you generate profits at the poker tables, maximizing value on your ‘good’ hands and minimizing losses when behind. Examples of the tricky situations that lack of patience at the tables can lead to are covered next. Finally the implication of a ‘patient approach’ to the game as a whole is covered – including insights into moving up levels.

Every poker player has had long runs of junk hands, a seemingly endless procession of small unpaired cards. These situations can be exacerbated when we see raises and re-raises ahead those times we have a marginally playable hand, forcing a grudging fold.

In these situations medium-strength holdings can start to look very attractive. Hands you would normally fold without too much thought are played to relieve the boredom of constant folding. Here is where things get dangerous, especially when playing easily dominated hands. For example calling a raise with ace-seven can lead to difficult (and often incorrect) decisions after the flop. If you hit the ace then an opponent could have a higher kicker, hitting the seven can leave you vulnerable to an over-pair.
Poker is a game where the player who makes the fewest mistakes will go home with the money in the long term. This is where the value of a patient approach comes in. Being disciplined enough to ask yourself whether you are really playing the hand for a profit long-term should be a natural part of your poker game. Entering pots with vulnerable hands in order to relieve the boredom of a long spell of cold cards can easily wipe out the profits that you spent hours building in one fell swoop.

Patience will benefit your poker game in other ways too. The common situation is a desire to move up levels quickly in search of higher profits. Moving up before a player is really ready for the higher skill levels found at the bigger betting limits has been the downfall of many aspiring poker players.
If you are winning at your current level then the desire and motivation to move up is natural and positive. The important question to ask yourself is whether your current poker skill-set, and your poker bankroll, are ready for a shot at the next level up. Here a patient approach, including time spent studying poker strategy and building your bankroll to ensure you have a ‘buffer’ should things go wrong, can help to ensure that your move is a success. The patience and discipline to move back down again should things not go your way – rebuilding that bankroll for a 2nd shot – is also important.

To summarize, patience is a valuable skill in poker, helping to ensure that the hands you play are profitable and helping to avoid potentially difficult situations – especially with easily dominated hands. A patient approach to moving up levels will also go a long way to ensuring that you are successful in the long-term.