The second pillar of the APEX Framework is Patience.

If you spend enough time in small to mid-stakes live cash games, one thing becomes very clear very quickly.

Most players simply cannot wait.

After grinding these games for more than 15 years, I’ve seen the same patterns play out over and over again.

Players start getting out of line.

They begin:

• Playing too many hands
• Opening junk hands out of position
• Calling all the way down with middle pair
• Dumping chips into big draws
• Making hero calls on the river with the worst hand

Sit down in almost any casino on a Friday or Saturday night, and you’ll see this happen hundreds of times throughout the session.

And that’s exactly where patient players make their money.

Patience Creates Opportunities

At these stakes, you don’t need to force the action.

The opportunities will come to you.

Loose players will overplay top pair.
Someone will chase a draw they shouldn’t.
Another player will convince themselves you’re bluffing.

When you have the patience to wait for these spots, exploiting these players becomes much easier.

Patience allows you to let other players make the mistakes while you stay out of trouble.

Patience Keeps You Out of Harm’s Way

One of the biggest benefits of patience is that it protects your stack.

By being selective about which spots you enter and how you play them, you avoid putting yourself into situations where you’re guessing or hoping things work out.

A lot of losing sessions come down to just one or two unnecessary decisions.

A loose call before the flop.
A curiosity call on the river.
A bluff against the wrong opponent.

Patience helps eliminate those mistakes.

Sometimes the best decision you can make is simply not getting involved in the first place.

Folding Is Part of the Game

Being patient also means being comfortable with folding.

And a lot of players struggle with that.

You don’t have to call every bet.
You don’t have to get aggressive in every spot.
And you definitely don’t have to prove anything to the table.

If you think your hand might be beat, it’s perfectly fine to let it go and move on to the next one.

There is no shortage of cards in poker.

The Danger of FOMO

A lot of bad decisions at the table come from FOMO — the fear of missing out.

Players convince themselves they need to be in the action.

They start playing hands they shouldn’t be playing.

Hands like 3♠5♦ offsuit, hoping to flop something magical.

But let’s look at the reality.

With a hand like 3-5 offsuit:

• Flopping a straight is less than 1%
• Flopping an open-ended straight draw is around 7%
• Flopping two pair is about 2%
• Flopping trips is roughly 1.35%

Those are not exactly great investment numbers.

If you sat down with a financial advisor and he told you the best-case scenario was about a 7% chance of seeing a return, you’d probably tell him to pound salt.

Yet players willingly make that same investment at the poker table all night long.

There Is a Time to Get Fancy

Now, I’m not saying you should never play a hand like 3-5 offsuit.

Poker isn’t that rigid.

There are situations where opening a hand like that can make sense.

Maybe you’re in position.
Maybe the table is passive.
Maybe you have a strong read on the players behind you.

But the key is having the patience and discipline to do two things.

First, you need to pick the right spot.

Second, you need to be willing to let it go immediately if the situation doesn’t go your way.

Too many players get stubborn once they’ve entered a pot.

Patient players know when to step on the gas and when to get out of the way.

The Real Edge

At the small to mid-stakes live cash games, the biggest edge isn’t fancy strategy.

It’s discipline.

While other players are trying to create action, patient players are simply waiting for profitable situations.

And when those situations arrive, they’re ready to capitalize.

That’s why patience isn’t just a virtue at the poker table.

At these stakes, it’s a real edge.