Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of controlling a near field communications (NFC) system, including: reading a number of low power iterations N from a memory; performing N low power polls; performing a normal power poll. Further, various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of controlling a near field communications (NFC) system, including: performing a low power poll of a tag; detecting a tag; initiating a first activation of the detected tag; receiving an indication that the first activation fails; reading a number of retries N from a memory; performing a second activation.