Maybe OT but i need some tecnique to find more patience at the table otherwise i loose up (expecially against weak Villan) and this causes me to loose many chips all the time!!!

I need to fis this leak and im sure someone here can help!

Thanks!

I mean this is one of the keys to playing poker. I doubt anyone is going to be able to give you a tip or trick that will magically give you the ability to focus. Might be some stuff in the best of sticky at the top but if you have no ability to control yourself and your impulses internally you are unlikely to be successful at this game.

IMO and SMH

Notice- First post on this forum, be gentle

I am considered by many good players at local live games as one of the best, all because I am patient.

One night recently, we started at 9pm, I played maybe 10 hands between then and 1am. The dealers typically pitch about 35 hands an hour.

Then...
I hit my run and in less than an hour I left up 700.00 on a 300 buyin.

Patience is a powerful asset, it can lead you to the wins and keep you from the losses. It is a discipline and must be practiced.

Best advise, determine what activity is the most trying for your patience outside of poker and engage it till you master your patience. For me it was learning to fish one summer.

GL
TorpedoARMED

Excellent advice. Another, not as good, but I've found it helpful: figure out what makes you feel comfortable and calm. Try to create that at the table.

For some people it's being totally checked out on mega headphones.

For others it's checking the internet or sports scores or games or watching movies on their phone or iPad.

I have tried a bunch of different things to maximize my patience. Sometimes music works, sometimes podcasts, sometimes music and a book. Movies and games don't work for me because I don't like stopping every couple minutes to check my cards.

If something isn't working I change up. If nothing is working it's not my night and I leave.

My wife has a "keep me patient while playing poker" app on her iPad. Candy Crush. Blech. But it works for her.

What helped me a lot was thinking in terms of control and exploiting opponents...

I have my model for how I think players play....and I watch for players who deviate from that model...I then think of ways I can exploite those plays (if I were in this hand)...

Sit down and write out what you think bets raises and bet sizes mean in diffrent situation...multi way...donk bets....over bets in limped pots with players behind....all these things....then next time you play see if you seem to be right...remember when your wrong....

Poker will all of a sudden become interesting....folding just becomes an opportunity to gain info on how your opponents are playing...

Then start thinking on how you would exploit what you have seen...player raises 12 pre flop you flop...5 players see the flop...60 ish flop....sb fires $20 into K93 two tone...two players call...think week bet multi way probley week top pair...callers have draws or week hands....raise would take this down, i cold raise any week draw here and have excellent fold equity...

Trust me with a little practice you will never be board at the table..(tired after doing this for a couple of hours but never board.)

When I'm card dead a podcasts are great to take my mind off the awful hands I'm getting and think about other interesting topics, try it out one session. I also enjoy comedy acts.

Know when to get up from the table to take breaks.

95% of the time after I get a bad beat or coolered in a big pot I get up from the table and take like a 5-10 minute breather.

Practicing meditation or yoga could also help, helps me no doubt.

Watching alcohol consumption could be something else to keep an eye on, I would say no more than 1 or 2 beers per session if you absolutely need to drink.

Last thing that I've come to realize recently, I expect to have card dead streaks lasting for hours in over half of my sessions (now understand my starting hand range is very tight imo).

My hand range is so tight playing llsnl that mathetically I'm only playing about 10% of my non blind hands so I've accepted that when the cards are running cold, that things are actually running normal and I've come to be able to accept it because I know more often than not I'm leaving with more money than I came to the poker table with.

this, i play probably more than 10% (probably 15-20%) but ya probably in 1/3 of my seesions that hypothetically last 5-6 hours ill be card dead for an hour or 2. just part of the game. honestly OOP only play pairs and premiums

in the CO and button is where you can open up to never be card dead. if there are 0 limpers open with 108o,98o+ 75s+65s+ in the co or button. also with one limper open with one hand better than listed. this is if you are inexperienced. i probably use those ranges in the HJ unopened or one limper

Here's something to think about...

Most people can agree that $20/hour at 1/2 is pretty good, right?

Let's say you get just into ONE pot in which you win $100 (which is very doable and reasonable), it would still be enormously profitable EVEN if you had to wait FIVE hours for it (and most people starts to complain after one-two). We put up with waiting so when that $100,$200,+ hand comes, we will know how to capitalize on it because we've observing our opponents.

I think as poker players we are addicted to action, and oversee the fact that at the end it's our hourly that matters and not how often we are in hands (unless you are purely playing for fun). Once I had to wait 6 (!!) hours to get into this big hand with a drooler and I made 350 from the hand, giving me an hourly of $60/hour for that session. My point? Itll be all worth it

the best way to keep patient is to enjoy the game going on even if you are not in it. Read people.... Spec on hands, chat it up to loosen up the table. Talk to the guy on your left (always profitable) etc.

This. It takes practice tho, lots of it. Just take a one step At a time, try to improve just a little bit every time you play.

I want to have fun at the poker table. I want to win pots. I want to get involved in hands so that I can utilize the poker skills that I've acquired.
But more than any of those things, I want to make the most +ev decision I can make every single time. To the best of my ability, I want to make the most financially profitable decision I can, every chance I get, so that I don't give up one iota to my opponents. If that means folding preflop for very long lengths of time, that's fine. In fact, after those sessions where I successfully stay uninvolved for the majority of time, I feel good about myself knowing that I lost the minimum, and that other players falling prey to boredom might have lost a lot more.
Refuse to give up any edge. Don't let yourself be a sucker just because you're bored.

Fwiw, I think you overestimate the expectation of your big hands. Yes, sometimes you'll win $100 with a premium, but sometimes it'll fold around pre. Or it'll go 5-way and you'll have to fold. Or you'll get into a cooler or bad beat situation.

I get that your main point is that patience is worth more than most people realize, and that people are probably taking a lot of -EV spots to see more hands. But I think going to the opposite extreme is dangerous too. Passing up +EV spots just because they are EV = 5 bb instead of EV = 30+ bb is silly.

Im making the transition from playing online MTT for a living to trying to make some extra income from live cash and patience is a tough one for sure. First thing is dont worry at all about how much you may be down on the session/week or whatever and treat every hand as though you just sat down and are even and make the best decisions that you can.

Second thing for me is, dont fall into the trap of playing like everyone else at the table and start limping trash trying to flop it. Much better to raise that trash if you absolutely have to play it because it gives you the lead post flop. Important extension of this is playing your draws very aggressively, which is the opposite of most at llsnl. Then when occasionally you get called down and show up with air the other 1 or 2 competent players at the table notice this and start to assume you always have nothing.

Id say nearly all of my biggest live session wins (~500bb+) come from stacking the next best player at the table when i may be in for a couple buyins but we are now playing very deep and they just donk off massive stacks to you when you hit a hand and they assume you are just being aggro

No, you misunderstood my point - by "big pot", I don't necessary mean aa/kk, where I only get them statistically once out of every x hours. I used a$100 pot as an example because spots happen usually once every while, where you get a chance to win a significant amount of money, because you were playing well AND hit. You just don't know when it's going to happen, so you can only do the best to maintain your stack until it does. Furthermore, I suggested that throughout these 5 hours or however many I'm card dead for, I'm still going to play every spot optimally and BE OKAY with it if I don't hit. I'm not going to make a mistake and get into big pots because I've been bored and haven't hit anything.

Also, I don't selectively enter into only pots with big potential, the point I'm trying to get across to OP is that, when you are card dead, it's worth remembering that all you need is one big hand to make your session. So if your x number of pocket pairs haven't been hitting sets, if you keep calling with good odds, that one time it does hit and you make $300 with it will make your session worth it. Yeah some sessions you win a bunch of small pots which adds up, but some other sessions you just gotta wait for that few big hands.

Ahhhhh, okay. Yes that makes sense. Sorry for the misinterpretation, and solid follow-up post. Definitely a good thing to keep in mind when card dead. A lot of times you can dominate a table with marginal hands, but typically I'm not going to play complete trash, so it can be frustrating when that's all I see for 3+ hours. I'll try to think like this the next time it happens

Go to the bathroom and masturbate once an hour.

Already tried that... even though 1 hr is long time between one and another!!!

Play patiently, develop your reads before acting on them, focus on the action, and wait for good opportunities

^That's good advice ONLY if everyone else at the table is better than you are.

Because of the infinite-ness of poker, there is no difference between the first hand of a session, and the last hand of a session. Everyone who is saying that they like to wait for their "big spot" is full of it. I'll bet none of you guys racks up and leaves after 15 minutes if your "big one" comes in your first orbit. It's just results oriented thinking that makes you think you're "good" just because you sat still while being card dead. ANd it's foolish belief in fairy tales that makes you remember being "rewarded" for your patience with a big win at the end.

Total crap.

If you're opponents are bad, then you are losing -EV through patience. The more mistakes your opponents make, the more money you pass up by staying out of the action. Good poker is about exploiting opportunities. If you need good cards to do that, then you're not good at poker.

This entire thread is just advice for people who tilt when they're losing.

Have fun guppies.

^ What Spex said.

You should be able to mix it up with ATC with deep stacks and being in position.

Despite what the action-junkies say, patience and discipline are huge factors to consider at the table. Nowadays, although you still get your fair share of the fish and the donks, more and more live players are beginning to get clued up into what's going on and under-estimating opponents can become a big leak. For this reason I really don't think the "any-two will do" maxim works.

This month I've really been thinking hard about patience at the table because after losing two AA < KK/QQ hands, getting it all-in pre and losing around £750 (at £1/£2), I've gone on to play sub-optimal lines and lost stupid hands against weak opponents where a simple fold and the exercising of patience would have sufficed. A deficit, for July, of £1.2K at £1/£2 may not sound huge but the way it's come about has got me devising a strategy:

A) First rank the table as follows:

* The significant majority are good/strong players.
** Most are good/strong players. There may be the odd tricky maniac thrown in.
*** A mix of good/strong/weak players. Maybe with the odd tricky maniac.
**** Most are weak players. There may be the odd strong player sprinkled in.
***** Many weak players who are easy to play against. There may be a bad maniac as well.

-- Of course, I have not mentioned chip-sizes or seating position in relation to the good/strong/weak/maniac players but I think this will do as a rough outline.

B) Then apply these simple concepts:

1) If the table is a * or a **, then leave the table within 30 minutes.
2) If the table is a *** or a **** and you have been card-dead for ~2 hours, then consider leaving.
3) Always stay on a ***, **** and ***** table when in the zone and playing your A-game and/or when you have a strong image.
4) Always leave any table when playing badly or when feeling frustrated.
5) Always leave when any sort of results-orientated thinking creeps in.
6) Do not continue playing at a new venue after losing one or two big pots during a frustrating session.
7) Generally play the top 15-20% of starting hands (depending on position and opposition) and fold everything else - unless on a heater with a strong image at a super-soft table.
8) Never make big neutral ev bets or go for 50-50 coinflips.
9) Generally aim to play Thursday-Sunday. Occasionally play Monday-Wednesday but only when bringing the A-game to the table.
10) Always be on the lookout for a softer table.

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Now I know this may seem super-conservative and probably counter-intuitive to the younger loose-aggressive players BUT for those who really want to inject a tighter more disciplined approach to the game, then I'd recommend this sytem.

tl:dr - Here's a little commentary for each point:

1) Table selection is key. Live poker gives you the choice to avoid bad tables - exercise that right!
2) This one is a judgement call but generally, even at a *** or a **** table, being card-dead and mucking over 90% of your hands preflop, signals a weak image to the rest of the table. The smartest move at this point really is to get up and leave.
3) Even if you're down to your C or D game and it's 6 o'clock in the morning, if Mr Whale is still donating you need to be there.
4) Frustration is one of the biggest tilt-factors and almost always leads to impatience and bad play. Recognise when it takes hold and get the hell out!
5) Profits or losses in a session or a day are really not that important. Use performance-related thinking... play when making the right decisions, stop playing when you're not; the results will then take care of themselves.
6) After a five-hour session at a soft-table where you thought you'd just scoop up the chips like ice-cream, that bad-beat along with the frustration won't go away with a simple table or venue change. Consider chalking it up to a bad day at the office and go home!
7) Loosening up your range and playing 30-40% of starting hands might be ok when you're table captain, but when you're doing it through boredom or frustration on a table full of solid players then you're on a rocky road.
8) Considering calling that £60 all-in with AK or JJ versus Mr Rock who only plays 5% of his hands!? How about an all-in £400 bet with 9 9 from Mr Maniac!? How about waiting for a much better spot when you're the one putting the money in?
9) Good, solid players play poker all through the week; casuals and recreationals come out to play at the weekends to unwind from work.
10) See (1) above.

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Thanks for reading. As I say, I've put quite a bit of thought into this subject of patience so please feel free to point out any flaws in my logic or with anything that needs commenting on.

^ Cliff Notes: Play against weaker competition. Don't be results oriented when the fish draw out on you.

I think we agree that patience is a good thing at a poker table. The problem is that many people are drawn to poker for the gambling aspect. The gambling bug demands feeding constantly and the more you feed it, the harder it insists to be fed. You have to find a way to starve it.

Winning poker isn't for everyone. For many, it is a mountain too high to climb.

OP, good luck.