I should know, it killed my game in the Twitter Poker Tour last night (congrats to those that cashed). For anyone that plays poker online at Full Tilt or Pokerstars, you really should check out the Twitter Poker Tour, it’s a fun event with a great group of players. The next TPT event has money added to the prize pool too, great time to check it out. Anyway, back to the bad news…I finished in 27th place out of 35. I was dealt A-K off-suit in my final hand. I wasn’t super short stacked by any means, I had leaked about $500 in chips and was down to about $1000 and we weren’t even to the first break yet (1 hour). I hadn’t been getting much for cards though (which is why I think I was becoming impatient) so when I saw that A-K I seemed to instantly make up my mind that the sooner I can get it all-in, the better. This was just my impatience taking over, although A-K is a great starting hand, often that is where the greatness ends. I like building a nice pot with A-K pre-flop, but usually can get away from it pretty easy after the flop if it completely misses me and everyone else is loving their hands. Looking back at all the TPT events I’ve gone deep in, I know I was much more patient. Patience is usually a strong part of my game, so when my patience wears thin I play terrible.
Some good news though, my bankroll is at a new all time high, $341. Previous high was $338 so that may not seem like a big deal, but I had almost dipped below $299 after reaching $338 last time. I’m still grinding it out a $5NL and haven’t decided when I’m going to move up to $10NL. I haven’t been playing much, but I make it a point to have fun and if I do well I keep the sessions short, rather then just playing hands for the sake of getting a big block of time in. The other night I played for about 25 minutes and won $11 and banked the positive session. Keeps the game fun and fresh.
There is that fine line between being patient and playing like a nit. To me it is more about realizing when I am beat and getting out of the way.
I did the same thing last night. I overplayed AK and got crippled early. It didn’t help that the donk I was playing against called a big bet with an overcard on board and caught a gutshot straight. But hey, that is why we play…
Patience applies in bankroll management too. Twice now, I’ve hit big MTT wins and promptly (within two weeks) lost a good portion of it raising my stakes too quickly. Most recently, I took 3rd in a $17K guarantee on Full Tilt for $2100, when my total bankroll was only $1750 or so. This was less than three weeks ago. I immediately began playing satellites for the Fifty Fifty, $75 token satellites, and even Big Sunday satellites. The problem is, I played the tourneys when I won. I am now down to $1950.
Learn from me, readers! Don’t raise your stakes drastically when good things happen!
Being patient is very hard to do when the cards are not coming. Many times I have succumbed to this. Especially when it seems like the worse your hand the better your shot at winning.
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