I am slowly overcoming by biggest weakness

Ever since I began playing poker I have had this really annoying habit. I'd build up a nice stack and then blow it in the most amazing style. I mean literally blow. it. I recall one tournament, and we're talking a 100K biggie that I had qualified for, where I was in first place with 200 to go and they were paying out the top 150.

I managed to go from chip leader to busting out in the space of ten minutes. You can ask yourself how I did it, and I cant answer. It was a classic sign of tilt. The most amazing blow out since Scotty busted out the 50k horse in 2007. Yes it was that bad.

Just recently I've been taking down notes, analysing what I've been doing and it finally dawned on me that my biggest problem is impatience.

I have no problem building up a stack. Whilst play is loose and people are calling I revel. I pick up nice sized pots and usually I outlast the first half of the people in the tournament. Where is starts going wrong is when my hands dry up and suddenly when people raise you know they have real hands. They arent going in gung ho with crap anymore and you cant outplay them.

It came to me playing in a $3 rebuy tournament on PS, and being honest it happened purely by chance. I had 11k in chips with the average being 2k. I was strolling along in the top 10. Suddenly my phone rang and my mother decided she wanted to chat. I could hardly ask her to ring back after the tournament ended, so I pressed the sit out button and sure enough went to chat with my mum.

After an hour I was getting impatient, fully expecting to find I'd lost my position and was going to be mega short stacked. So I made my excuses and said goodbye to my mum and got back to the table asap..

I couldnt believe it. My stack hadnt dwindled away to nothing as I'd expected. I still had just short of 10k but the field had dropped from 2000 when I left to only 800 and they were paying out on 400. At this point I realised I was still in with a good shout.

So rather than do what I usually do and go looking for hands by limping in to every pot to see if I could hit on the flop I became far more selective about my hands. I limped in only with pairs or Aces with a good kicker and raised with anything paired above a 10... Yes I lost a few chips but I also gained nice pots when my AA and my KK both helped take down nice pots.

Other than that I just sat and watched. I made mental notes on players, watched what they were raising and calling with. What their range they were prepared to go in with. Slowly the field was falling. I was getting closer to the button and yet my stack wasnt falling. OK other players were pulling away. THe chip leader was about 5 times my stack, but I put him out of my mind. He wasnt relevant. I fell from being in the top 100 to being in the top 200 but I was still in a cashing spot.

Eventually the bubble came and I was in the money. I then loosened my starting hand requirements and would raise with KQ, and ace with a kicker above an 8. Any pair above a 10 was a shove all in. However I would only call a large raise with AA, AK or KK, I think I also called one raise with QQ which held up for me.

I finally busted out in about 90th place when my AK hit two pair on the flop, only for the villain to hit a straight with his A 10. The J on the river sending me to the rail. However I was still $32 in profit for the game.. A nice result.

Since then I've become far more focused on making sure I dont get involved too much once I've got a stack. I protect it. I lay down my hand in the BB if I havent got a hand worth protecting the chips with. Gone are the days of calling with any garbage just to protect a small proportion of my chips.

Basically I've become more patient, and wait for the hands to come to me, as opposed to me going looking for the hands. The size of my stack in relation to the chip leader and my position in the leader board isnt relevant. I focus on whether the chips I have will get me into the money. If theres enough to get me into the money then I will just sit tight and not risk anything. Once I've passed the button then its time to loosen up. I think I was loosening up too early. Somehow scared of being left behind and having to fight myself back into the game from a short stack position. Now it doesnt bother me. If anything I like being shortstacked as the range of hands you can shove with when everyone else is playing tight is greater and when you do shove you have a great chance of a double up when a large stack just fancies a bingo coinflip..

In short, I've realised that patience is essential. You get into the money by playing smart, not by playing aggressively.. Its better to be fold hands and let others bust out than it is to try keep up with the chip leaders. As I've noticed, 99.9% of the time they come back to the field anyway..

So this new theory of mine.. does it work. Well I have gained more RB points in the freerolls this last week, than I have in the whole time I've been on RB. I have cashed in 14 tournaments this week alone and my BRs are rising for the first time in god knows when..

Its taken a long time to get there, but I think I am beginning to understand how to get into the money. Its through playing the right hands in the right spot. Not just throwing your chips in and hoping.