Poker News

Jim McKenna, PhD.

Most poker players will say that they would rather be lucky than good. However, the professionals know that luck is short term and in the long run, poker skills will win. In the long haul, a player must have the discipline to either play or fold and at the right times.

Skillsthat are on the top of the list are the skills of patience and the ability to handle boredom. The willingness to wait for the right cards, the right position, and the right odds to come around must be combined with the ability to handle boredom. This is not an easy task for the many players who are there in search of excitement.

Patience is a realistic attitude when you only expect to win one or two pots every hour. It’s being patient to sit through the garbage hands and not play out of boredom. It’s knowing when to bluff and having the patience not to telegraph your hand by betting a good hand too soon. A patient player will let other players knock each other out in tournaments. Being patient is playing the “waiting game.” If you are there to socialize or to get more excitement in your life, patience will slow you down to be satisfied with occasional excitements. This is true of low limit games. However, when playing pot-limit or no-limit games, you’ll find excitement occurs more often. That’s because in these games it is possible to protect a good hand and not be beaten by someone who impatiently plays bad cards and tends to chase if the cost is not too high.

In a previous article (”Worst Player Traps,” Poker Player, 1/10/2005), I outlined the pitfalls of traps. Playing without the patience neededto be a consistent winner is a way to trap one’s self. Playing as if each hand is the first hand of the day will be a way to develop patience. It’s a fact that the cards have no memory and are coming out in random ways. So, the odds of getting two playable cards and having an edge with position are events that seldom happen together. Good fortune is rare in poker. Bad fortune is the norm. Playing aggressively with garbage hands will work for a while; however, in the long run, it will result in misfortune.

Here’s an acronym that uses verbs to help settle into more patient ways to spend boredom times:

Play . . . . . good cards, position, and several “Outs.”

Avoid . . . . garbage hands (”No Fold ‘em Hold ‘em”)

Think . . . . about odds, strategies, and “outs.”

Ignore . . . . Long shots.

Expect . . . to win about one pot in every hour.

Notice . . . what’s happening, instead of dreaming.

Center . . . yourself in the HERE andNOW

Enjoy . . . . winning and not chasing miracles.

This acronym helps me to keep aware during the periods of boredom. Not playing cards that could trap you into chasing improbable odds is a skill to be patiently sought. It requires avoiding the temptation to play “No Fold ‘em Hold ‘em” when the game gets boring. Waiting can be replaced with thinking about what other players are doing and how the cards are coming out. Boredom is often the cause of drifting and day dreaming. There are ways to stay centered and to avoid “dreamland.”

The major impediment to playing patiently is boredom. Some people can handle it better than others. Developing ways to cope with boredom is a skill. Boredom is doing nothing and waiting for something to happen. There’s an attitude of noticing what’s happening even when there’s little worth noticing. There are four words that will help to fill time and stay in the Here and Now. I first used this phrase when I was working with a young lady who was distracted by social anxiety and was either in the past or the future. I asked her to repeat five times this phrase: “HERE I AM NOW.” I asked her each time to put emphasis on a different word and then the final time, emphasize each word. Try this exercise the next time you are bored playing and see what happens. You will definitely not be in “dreamland” and be more able to focus.

If none of these techniques work, try this prayer, “Lord, grant me patience. And, I want it right now!”

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