Patient Poker = Winning Poker

Okay, like a reformed smoker or a recently converted Christian I'm going to sound a bit like a broken record by repeating the importance of patience when playing at the Micro Stakes cash poker tables. I’ve just completed my 5th straight winning day and it was the kind of grind that I was prepared to put in 6 months ago. Back then I won, a month ago I was impatient and lost – not a lot of math required there.

The only disclosure I should make here is that I had the Tour de France on in the background to watch how Cadel Evans went in defending his yellow on stage 15 up to Prato Nevoso.

It took me over 130 hands before I ground my way into a profitable position after coming close to losing the lot when my pocket aces were cracked. But rather than talk about me, I want to make an observation about another guy who was playing a couple of seats to my left.

I was at the $10 NLHE table and when I sat down this guy was sitting on around $16 so he had a winning night going. It didn’t take too many hands to work out that this guy liked to play a lot of hands and when he hit anything from bottom pair on up he would play it aggressively or call all bets. It seemed to be going sweetly for him as he proceeded to push others off their hands and moved smoothly up to around $18.

But as the game wore on, the inevitable happened and his stack was whittled away. It took over 100 hands and a roller coaster of a ride, but he eventually went broke as the same players who folded earlier in the session began calling and playing back to him. His problem, apart from his playing style which was the classic short-term winner, long-term loser style, was that he sat at the same table for way too long. Everyone at the table had him figured out after only a few rotations.

One of my strategies in playing at the micro-stakes poker tables is to change tables fairly frequently. Sometimes the playing style of others doesn’t suit my style, sometimes I just don’t feel comfortable at a particular table or, most importantly, I may feel that the other players are reading me too easily. I’m a fairly tight player and if I’ve been sitting at a table and folding often, the moment I call or raise may send my opponents running. I’m not a big bluffer on-line so I prefer to just get up and move to another table. Why not? There are plenty to choose from.

When I’m new to a table I’m an unknown quantity and I find that my opponents will be a little more wary in the first 10-15 hands I play. A new table often means a quick win and I can move on again.

My bankroll is up to $207.91.