Patience Is Profit

Music Selection: Jay-Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail
Beverage: A&W Root Beer in a mug

My cash game of choice is 1/2 NLH.  There are tons of pros and few cons when it comes to this game.  The best part is that I consider myself a top three player at any nine handed table.

"Oh no he didn't!"

Yes that sounds like a cocky statement but it's really not.  I'm not a great poker player.  I'm not in the top third of all poker players.  What I am is more experienced then 69% of your average 1/2 players.

Lets look at 1/2.  It's the cheapest no limit game offered at most casinos.  I play on weekends.  Weekend evenings are the party nights.  Walk into a poker room on a Friday night, and you'll find a group of players who are there to have fun, party, gamble, and play the most popular poker game in the world.

At this low level, experience is everything.  Reading your opponent.  Putting your opponent on hands.  Correct checking, betting, raising, folding all come with experience.

This is the advantage I have over most 1/2 players, this is why I play 1/2.

So, I have a small advantage over a lot of the people you'll find at a 1/2 game.  So what?

Well, this group of players have wallets too.  They can buy in for as much as any other player at the table.  The most profit comes from these guys.  The inexperienced.

Sometimes, this knowledge hurts me.  I feel rushed.  I know they're bad, so giving them credit for a hand is tough.  Seeing bad plays makes me want to open up.  Now I'm making calls with top pair Aces with that shitty ten ish kicker.  Sometimes I find myself giving chips away in hands I'd never normally play due to the lack of respect.  When this happens, I come back to one word.

Patience.

Let them play bad, let them keep scooping small/medium size pots.  Eventually, the discipline will pay off.  My over pair, two pair or set destroys these players.  They can't fold top pair.  They can't fold a flush draw, they can't fold an open ended (or sometimes gut shot) straight draw.  Cool.  Welcome to value town, population your and me.

During my last session, I'd usually raise to about $10 in good position.  It just so happend that I some loose players to my left and a player of interest 3ish seats to my right.  Three of my pre-flop raises in a row, he re-raised all-in.  I'm looking at decent hands, but they weren't $100+ hands.  Fold.  Fold.  Fold.

Finally I'm dealt JJ.  Raise to the same $10.  Call, Call, Call, All-in $120 ish, I insta-call.  We're heads up.  8 hi flop.  Blank Blank.  I say I have a pair, he mucks.  There's a $150 win.

Patience.

Let them make the mistake, they'll pay you I promise.

Newton said Force = Mass x Acceleration.

Einstein said E=M x C^2.

Rhino says Patience = Profit.

Betcha my breakthrough makes you more money ;)

Note:  Patient + Aggressive to maximize profitable situations.  Sometimes you have to be willing to call All-Ins with a slight edge (JJ vs AK suited is 54 to 46).  1/2 is cheap enough where you can take some risks and win in the long run without risking an arm and a leg.