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ARTY'S POKER Q & A:
I Got Discipline, I Just Don't Have No Patience
By Art Santella

I have said in past columns that I know there are many good players in the lower limit games. The reasons that they don't move up may be that they cannot afford higher limits, they are playing for relaxation and recreation, or just are not ego driven individuals. No matter what level you play at, you must have a few basic rules that govern your play:

1. You must know when you are about to go on tilt, before it happens.
2. You have to know what amount you can lose without discomfort.
3. You must have a good basic understanding of the game.
4. You must be able to tell a good game from a bad game.
5. You must have the patience and discipline to sit through long runs of bad cards without starting to play garbage.

Rule number 5 is one of the most important aspects of the game, at any level of play. Let's take a look at a few thoughts on the subject of patience and discipline.

Question
Over the last several months I have noticed that many low limit players know how to play the game, but after a short period of play they become bored and abandon what they know to be correct. This seems to be especially true after a bad beat or two, or they see a player with a large stack of chips playing "any two" and winning pot after pot. They then tend to compound these mistakes by going on mega tilt when they themselves can't seem to win with any two cards.

What gets me is I read and read and read where it says patience and discipline is very important. I would also add to this a bit of intelligence is needed to be successful at this game we play. What do you think?

Opinion 1
Each time I play I become more and more convinced that the most important factor separating winners and losers in a low-limit game is discipline not elaborate strategic plays. Discipline to throw away poor starting hands, and not to chase draws when you don't have the right pot-odds is a basic but important skill.

I'm still learning the game and trying to develop this important skill, so I still fall victim to these impulses every once in a while. I can usually comfort myself by watching the player winning with any two cards loose back all of his chips in a flash. Some maniac gets hot for an hour, then spends only 10 minutes "redistributing the wealth." Remember even bad players can get good cards and play them correctly by accident.

Opinion 2
I think you are right about players who have some fundamental understanding of the game, such as those who know what "pots odds" are, will in on average do better than those who do not understand these concepts. A lot of low-limit players are the seat-of-the-pants types who don't understand pot odds, position, free card plays, or anything of that type.

Arty's Opinion
You must remember that at the lower limits you do not have a very big arsenal of playing moves that will work. If your opponents don't respect your bet, raise, or re-raise, trying to engineer a free card could be a waste of time. If they have no idea of why they should respect a check raise, except that it makes no sense to them, using it as a tactic to confuse or other wise out-play them is also a waste of time.

You start to realize that your fancy plays are useless at these levels. Usually you will have to show down the best hand, against a lot of callers on the river. If you understand that you will be out drawn more often with a lot of callers seeing the river, then you are starting to understand much of the traps of low limit games. If you have the best hand at the showdown, in these games, they can be very profitable. You have to understand that even though you wait for premium cards, you can expect them to get cracked from time to time, and it should not put you on tilt.

The discipline that is useful in these games is your "patience factor." Are you able to sit through long periods of bad cards without getting bored and falling back to the "Hell, he's winning with any two cards, why can't I?" excuse. Once you know your patience factor you must develop the discipline to maintain it. Knowing that you must be patient is one thing, having the mental discipline to maintain that patience for long periods of days and months can be difficult.

The test will come when you have waited for what seems like forever to get a good hand, let's say pocket Aces. To make a long story short, you flop a set and get rivered by a guy playing 2/5 off-suit, who makes a straight. Now you must summon all your discipline to keep from going over the edge. You ask yourself, "How could I have waited so long and got crushed, by garbage?" Just remember to tell yourself that it's the price of doing business in the world of low limit poker. Everything that goes around comes around. My last suggestion is that if you don't have patience and are thinking of moving up, forget it.

Now go win money.

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