Patience

We all know the "chip and a chair" saying, but I often find it tough not to get discouraged when my stack gets crippled early in a tourney.

Last night, I was in an MTT (186 players) and had my stack knocked down to about 200 chips in the first round after a bad beat (honestly - miracle river).

Since the blinds were still low (10/20), I decided to be patient, pick my spots, and see what I could do to get back into the tourney. I was in last place out of 150, and still in last place with only 60 players left, but by being patient had managed to "tread water" for over an hour, while the field dwindled. After a while, I finally managed to put together a string of winning hands.

In the end, I made the money and finished 14th. I didn't win, but I watched player after player (who'd had way more chips than I did) get eliminated as I survived. Of course, this isn't the ideal way to play a tourney, but, as an exercise in patience, it was a good experience.

Patience is prolly the number one thing that seperates the good players from the bad.

I remember when I first started playing. Patience was not in my vocabulary. I saw every flop. I have had a few tourneys just like yours danvanan, and managed to finish in the top 3.

Patience is 1 of the most important things in NLTH MTT`s, even i forget that every now and then, but if you wait long enough the hands usually come to you,,another thing is Feelong good, if you not well or sick dont play, it messes your game up, and Never drink alcohol while playing for real money,, i know that for sure,lol,, buck

All else being equal, the patience to come back from a crippling loss in a tournament--as opposed to just shoving the next hand with ATC--is often enough to separate a winning player from a losing one.

In fact, I've had several nice wins in tournies where I got crippled early. I was able to chip my way up, and go on to win because:
a) I was playing with no fear after being almost eliminated
b) Others at the table were afraid to give me more chips, and were playing scared poker

By being patient, you round up cashing. You actually played well, picking your spots to put your chips in. Great job.

I too was in a tourny just yesterday lost a huge stack of chips early in the game (I had trip kings and my opponent caught a fullhouse on the river.....gggrrrr) anyways, I just sat and patiently waited for the right play and finished 2nd in the tourny. So, yes! I do believe that patience (although it may not land you in 1st place) will definitely keep you in a game.