Patience: The Most Underrated Poker Skill

[Bwess1]

A lot of players focus on big bluffs and lucky hands, but I think patience wins more in the long run. Folding weak hands, waiting for the right spots, and staying disciplined can make a huge difference over time. Do you think patience is more important than aggression in poker, or is finding the right balance the real key?

[Alexgoben]

Of course, you need to strike a balance and show aggression when it's appropriate.

I do better when I'm more focused on my good hands.

[jyco]

You're right, but there are also many situations where you have to play hands that aren't very strong if that's what GTO recommends. Still, patience is crucial and should depend on how your opponents are playing. If you notice they're being overly aggressive, sometimes the best approach is to wait for a strong hand and then capitalize by taking a big portion of their stack

[LeSanta]

Це залежить від багатьох факторів, зокрема від позицій, в яких ви знаходитесь зі своєю рукою. Я не вмію блефувати; я граю лише тоді, коли відчуваю, що в мене найкраща рука на дошці.

[cedarori]

fr patience is literally the difference between donking off your stack and actually making money long term. balance matters but ngl most ppl just get too antsy and punt.

[wickus]

real talk, patience is what separates the grinders from the gamblers. most people just can't help themselves and end up punting, so staying disciplined alone puts you ahead of the field.

[Tyxyth]

fr patience is the foundation, but without well-timed aggression you're just folding your way to a slow bleed in tourneys. The real trick is knowing when to switch gears.

[ravora]

Balance for sure, but tbh most players leak way more from impatience than from being too passive. Nail the discipline first and the aggression comes naturally when spots pop up.

[kazys]

balance is def the real key, but if you're not patient first you'll never even get to the spots where aggression pays off tbh

[Strikeen07]

Nail on the head. Aggression without patience is just fancy spew, but folding forever is a slow death too — gotta pick your spots or you're just paying rake to watch.

[onyxrel]

The last comment nailed it — folding forever is just paying rake to watch, but I’d still say impatience costs more people their stack than being too passive ever will.

[Nyxus]

Balance is the dream, but most people don't even have the patience part down yet so that's the real grind tbh

[yxyn]

fr though, everyone wants to be the table bully but nobody talks about how folding 80% of hands is the actual cheat code to not donking off your stack before the real action starts

[morthen]

fr, sitting there folding junk for an hour isn't flashy but it sure beats the guy who's rebuying for the third time before his coffee's cold

[rexaldra]

honetly the thing that helped me the most was setting a mental timer, like if im card dead for 20 hands i tell myself thats fine cuz the moment i get bored and play a marginal hand is exactly when i get stacked. its wild how much more you notice other players tilting when youre just sitting there watching.

[vexioarium]

yeah the real trick is just not getting bored enough to torch your staack on a mediocre flop

[asharry34]

folding isnt cool but busting is worse

[seleneenver]

I actually tracked my stats for a month and the sessions where I folded the most preflop were my most profitable. It is not even close.

[nixup3bluda]

lowkey ngl patience is teh base for everything bro, aggro means nothing if you cant wait for good spots first ? ?

[dinai]

i set a lil rule for myself, every 20 haands i ask if id be ashamed to show my last 3 folds to a coach, keeps me honest

[Frankidra537]

Last night I folded ace jack offsuit three orbits in a row from early position and the guy next to me kept whispering "how can you just sit there", then he punted his whole stack with king ten suited 10 minutes later.

[emberorlia]

I once sat folding for almost two hours straight and the dealer actually asked if I was still awake, but then I doubled up on the very next hand because everyone thought I was dead money. Made me realize boredom is basically yuor secret weapon at the table.

[Baba Adamu]

Olise

Olise

[wrentha]

Focusing on your breathing or counting the folds instead of obsessing over the cards helped me stay sane during those long dry stretches. People always forget that patience means conserving mental energy too, not just chips.

[woonaylyn]

Fold tracker on my phone helps wait for spots more