i've been trying to fix some leaks in my game recently, and i have realized that one of my leaks is trying to force the issue when i've been card dead or unlucky (straights running into flushes, flushes into paired boards, chasers hitting to chop, etc.). i want my stack to go up, and i get frustrated when it goes down and/or treads water over an extended period of time. this leads to me trying to force the issue with moderate hands -- and this is a guarantee to see the stack size decrease. i'm thinking that i need to redefine "patience".

anyway, i realized that when i am playing well, my stack tends to do something like tread water or lose about 1/4 of a stack for a while, and then win a half stack or a whole stack. repeat as necessary. the catch is that i may end up treading water (plus/minus 25% of a buy-in) for 50-100 hands -- maybe more. as plo8 is a slow game, this drought might be one or two hours at a given table. all this time the donks are showing down bottom two and ten-high flushes to take down some monsters.

of course, sometimes you get the money in as a favorite and get counterfeited and/or outdrawn, but that's part of poker. that's when you rebuy and start over. i find, however, that these situations in plo8 are rare when and if i am playing well.

a case in point... i was playing in a 50plo8 game yesterday. i more than doubled up early to about 120, then treaded water between 110 and 130 for about an hour and a half, and then popped it to 180. i was tired, so i left the table. that was a sweet $130 for about two hours work at one table, but it was like pulling teeth it was so boring. i had tons of monsters that got no action even when i slow-played and min-bet (fwiw, i do give action without the made nuts, so i don't think that's the problem).

anyway, is this how other people's stacks develop when they are playing well -- that is, lots of flat time with a big jump (up or down) every hour or two?

is it the same for plo and plo8?

i'm thinking that i need to redefine my understanding of patience -- that is, i should expect to wait an average of two table hours (100 hands) before i get a monster with action. sometimes it will take less time, sometimes more, but 100 hands seems to be a reasonable average. thoughts?

kuso, when i am playing well, my stack often does just what you describe, unless of course i hit a big hand early. I know I'm doing fine when I realize my stack has not changed in an hour. You know what they say, patience is a virgin.