One of my favorite childhood fairy tails was Aesop's 'The Tortoise and the Hare.'
My mother read the story to my brothers, sister and me. It was the story of an arrogant rabbit that mocked a slow-moving turtle because of its lack of speed. Fed up with the rabbit's criticism, the tortoise challenged it to a race which the hare immediately accepted.
If you haven't heard the tale, here is what happened. The rabbit burst into an early lead, leaving the turtle far behind. Somewhere along the way, it decided to take a nap. The nap lasted longer than the hare intended and when it awoke, the tortoise had passed it and won the race.
The tale has been published and re-published over the centuries and was even made into a Disney movie. There have been several interpretations of the moral of the story, including 'Haste makes waste' and one who procrastinates never wins.
Youth has always been fascinated by speed. The Gladiators in ancient Rome wanted the fastest horses to pull their chariots. When Jack Schaeffer, author of 'Shane,' a best-selling western novel that was made into a movie, came up with a plot for 'First Blood,' he tried to figure out what would motivate a teenager to switch his affection from his father, a sheriff, to an outlaw gunslinger.
Schaeffer used speed as the motivating factor. He gave the young outlaw a fast horse that could beat anything in the surrounding territory and it helped bring his plot to a satisfying conclusion.
I find that a lot of the emerging young poker players are also fascinated by speed. They think they can run over their opposition by making massive raises on borderline or trash hands. While it sometimes works, more often they end up without chips and wondering what happened. Remember the story of 'The Tortoise and the Hare.'
Speed can give you a temporary lift in poker, but it doesn't win in the long run. That requires solid long-lasting play, the same quality that helps a fisherman land the big one while anglers around him come up with empty hooks.
A good poker player needs the patience of a fisherman to overcome hours of poor hands. He needs to know when to strike to extract the largest rewards from good cards. And if those cards refuse to come, he needs to settle back and plod along until it happens.
One of my favorite Doyle Brunson quotes is 'No limit poker is hours of boredom followed by moments of sheer terror.' Doyle, of course, was talking about his early years of poker when players used cash instead of chips on the table and where the players were in danger of being robbed at gunpoint by characters desperate to make a score.
When you play poker, whether the game is cash or a tournament, don't worry about speed. Just plod along and wait. The patience will pay off.
Now that doesn't mean you should always avoid speed. Changing gears is an essential part of poker and when you catch a dynamite hand, you should not hesitate to deliver a bone-crunching raise and re-raise. That's part of the fun of the game.
I often take a three by five index card into a game and write the letters PBPYCWC on it. The letters stand for 'Please be patient, your cards will come.' I then make a mark for each hand I receive that I don't play. Sometimes I will go through 10, 15 or 20 hands or more before I throw my chips into the pot. It helps me slow down my game and teaches me patience.
Now if you'll excuse me I am going back to my library to re-read some of Aesop's Fables. They're fun, mind-expanding, and they teach me about life.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
