Patience Grasshopper (Part 1)

Unfortunately, it takes more than the ability to "take this pebble from my hand" to be a good poker player. I am moving up into the ranks of mediocre which makes me happy because it means that I am no longer swimming with the fishes.

I have been studying Sklansky lately, and although his works are a bit sophisticated - there is some great information there. Sklansky likes to arrange everything mathematically which is great if you like math, and I can definitely use this information to finalize my foundation support.

You not only need to have the math skills to play poker, but you need some poker skills as well...One of which is patience!

"Patience is a Virtue!" My father would tell me that at least twice a week if not on a daily basis. It is definitely one of the hardest lessons to learn for some of us, and it is such an effective tool - especially in tourneys.

I will use patience against my competition as well as their impatience against them. It is almost comical how funny people get when they lose their patience in a game. Don't confuse Patience with being Calm because they are not the same thing!

You can watch the World Series of Poker and see who has patience and who doesn't. Take your time during the hand....and take your time during the game. Don't play reckless hands because you might have an advantage. Play hands when you KNOW you have the advantage. You still need to throw a bluff in there every once in a while to keep people honest.

The point of patience is not to lose your head with regards to the hand and the game.

More to come....!

Poker, Family and DisneyWorld!

My brother Rob and his family came into town to visit for two weeks. He is in the process of changing jobs and is uprooting his family from Kentucky to the Atlanta area.

As I have stated in my previous posts, I am a born again Christian. My bother is also an unabashed Christian, and he has spent the past few years heading up a very vibrant college student ministry on the campus of the university of Kentucky. He is taking a position with a growing church in the Atlanta area which will provide many challenges as well as many blessings!

Spending time with Rob and his family is always a great time, but three days after he and his family arrived my family and I were forced to go to Orlando for a week at DisneyWorld.

Okay, so we weren't really forced...but the timing was unfortunate!

Now, in the middle of all of this - the NWA Poker Club had a poker event on the Saturday before our trip. I was pretty high in the standings and felt obligated to participate.

My luck had not been very good over the past few unofficial tourneys so I was not expecting to fair very well, but being third in the player of the year standings I couldn't afford to give up the points.

Just a note: Chris Peplinski and Chrissy Quinn have been very generous in sponsoring many of the events for the NWAPC. They were in the process of getting married the week of my Orlando trip so that did add quite a bit to the weeks excitement.

So there I am at an eclectic table. I have only played two people at my table and the rest were all new players. The play was pretty erratic, so I decided to tighten up and watch for a while. As players began to move, Tom Patulak arrived at my table. He had a nice chipstack and began pushing players around. This worked in my favor. As the new players tried to target Tom, I was able to steal some pots. Just as I was getting into a nice groove, the table split up and I was moved.

The second table that I was at had some really young and aggressive players as well as Mark Johnson with a huge chipstack. The hyper-aggressive play along with some really terrible cards sealed my fate and I was essentially blinded out.

The second tourney was a bit different. I got up really quick with some great cards. I was able to sit back and let other players beat each other up and then I would get a great hand and take down a huge pot.

It came down to me and Chris Peplinski in the final two, and Chris was dealt a pair in the last three hands to win it all.

I had a good time and took home a little cash for my effort.

Although I did well, I did not have too much time to revel in my play because I was quickly on a plane with my family unit on the way to Orlando.

-m²