Patience or Aggression?

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love that omaha

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I find myself going back and forth from two mindsets on a weekly basis. Aggression, which is vital to NLHE and patience which is vital to long term survival. Especially as I have been sitting in some 1/2 live cash games I am favoring patience. Playing only premium hands and using position to the best of your ability just makes your post flop decisions simple. However, in tourneys, some aggression is mandatory to keep up with the blinds. I have always been a counterpuncher - dealing better with loose aggressive opponents than loose passive, although I do like a table where I can see cheap flop after cheap flop.


Sitting at 10 handed tables is really forcing me to rely on patience but I think I will be switching to only 6 handed tables and when I can find one I won't play. It has been interesting to me that as a live player I'm the most disciplined gambler I know but online as soon as I win 4 dollars in a freeroll I have to put it all in action immediately - lol.
 
dealio96

dealio96

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A certain amount of both is definitely required in tournament poker. I mean...you can't just sit there and be patient, waiting on premium hands all day.

Preflop- Start widening your range and raising those unopened pots a bit more.
Postflop- Make sure you're C betting/floating enough as well.

Hope this helps out a bit... GL on the felts!
 
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SamBush

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I agree with the above, you'll need a degree of patience especially after a bad beat but don't let your stack dwindle to under 10 big blinds while there are antes I would shove very wide from late position if you get to a dangerously low stack!
 
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gqr31ff

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You can combine these two qualities that rivals know that you are a patient player and then abruptly began to play aggressively and they will be afraid of this so well, and of course if you compare it to better patience game was stable without much loss of the stack as well as of course in any tournament you play it also depends
 
Everybodylovesdeuces

Everybodylovesdeuces

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I would argue that either way is dictated by your table make up and your current image at your table. If you're swinging back and forth, maybe you're just adjusting and not realizing it.
 
Aces2w1n

Aces2w1n

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you shouldn't need to be as patient with 10 handed, since a lot of hands like your suited connecters and lower pairs gain +ev
 
Jacki Burkhart

Jacki Burkhart

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I also find myself frequently torn between the two "goals". For me at least, this is a pre flop phenomenon as "patience" is no longer a factor post flop. So...essentially we're talking about preflop mindset and goals, right?

I think that a good tourney player doesn't find themselves picking between aggression OR patience too often....they find a way to have them both.

here is something I've been working on to try and improve this issue you are talking about:

To CALL a raise (passive move) I must have Either position or spectacular pot odds. If I don't have either one, then I must raise or fold. This forces me to pass up on a lot of marginal spots (patience) and then pick a few to play very strongly (aggression).

This is just an exercise to develop my discipline...I don't plan on keeping this up forever, and just about every tourney I play I find myself breaking this "rule" at least once...but I have to have a good reason for it and I must explain it to myself in my head WHY I'm allowed to break this rule this time before I do it.

Another exercise I've been doing with my game (only works live) is since I don't look at my cards until the action folds to me, I predetermine which cards I will act with in advance before looking at them including suited-ness.

So if I'm in MP1 before it folds to me I'll have told myself "OK, this hand if it folds to me I'm raising 66+, AJ+, A9s, KQs, 89s". That way if I look down at A9o or 78s I'm not tempted to be impatient and just play it cuz It looks OK and it's my turn to act. I play according to decisions I've made about the situations, not according to how I feel about my 2 cards when I see them "But it's A8 suited...that's close to A9s and it's so pretty and spades really are my favorite anyways....so I'm gonna play it just this one time" none of that crap.
 
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shinville

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i like being a counter puncher as well. i think patience vs aggression depends on your mood (do you feel like gambling and being aggressive), the situation (level of the tournament/what stakes), and the other players at the table how they are playing and your table image. never found a perfect balance i just make it up as i go
 
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guutox

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Patience is the key, agressive when you have good hands.
 
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hffjd2000

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I prefer patience more.

Aggression is also a key in poker but often times it will lead you to a disaster.
 
suit2please

suit2please

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Patience and aggression are not mutually exclusive.

In the context, I am getting the meaning of Patience as Tight and Aggression as loose. Which isn't correct in poker terms. You pretty much always want to be aggressive, very few situations call for passive play.

Loose/Passive is a losing way to play. As would be tight/passive, though less horrible.
 
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