waiting game

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The stratagem of deferring action and allowing the passage of time to work in one's favor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun idiomatic A strategy or course of action in which one or more parties refrain from direct action until circumstances change in their favor.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a strategy of delay