The Ticking Time Bomb

You've been learning. You're no longer willing to lose 8 out of 10 marginal all-in hands. You've ducked the monster crush of the chip leader. You're no longer a moth drawn unresistably to the fiery flame. You've waited for your spots where you had strength. You've even limped in a few hands, where you used to automatically go all in. You successfully slow-played the nuts a few times. You trapped the overly aggressive. You even collected a bluff or two. But, here comes the final table, The blinds have reached a level that is excrutiatingly uncomfortable. Fear seeks control of your impulses. Patience feels like waterboarding. You get an A5, best hand you've had since your blinds began to slip away. Do you launch all-in? Not if you can help it. Insanity is a shared mass hysteria at this point. You're likely to run into a better hand and that better hand will show you the door, maybe finishing 18th or some such thing. The rising blinds are the ticking timebomb. But, you have to hold out for a quality hand, now that you've come this far. The bigger stacks are likely to push you all in anyway, as soon as you attempt to enter the action. So, BE READY. It can be the difference between doubling, tripling, quadrupling. or, walking the long walk home without so much as a nickel.