Motley Fool analyst (and weekend card-shark) Anand Chokkavelu sees a lot of similarities between poker and investing. The players who consistently win big pots have something in common with investors whose portfolios grow richer by the year: patience. Sure, bold bluffs and blind luck sometimes win card games, but such victories usually come after the gambler has patiently checked and folded over and over in the face of long odds. Same goes for choosing stocks.

Applying this green-felt lesson to investing, Chokkavelu focuses on three great companies from three very different industries: Buffalo Wild Wings (Nasdaq: BWLD), Morningstar (Nasdaq: MORN), and Paychex (Nasdaq: PAYX) -- all great companies, all trading at what he believes to be rich valuations.

Investors who do their research and demonstrate patience may discover down the line that the market has dinged these great companies for a superficial reason -- and that could be the signal to ante up. Watch the video here:

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