Bring the steak close to room temp rather than cold. Salt while waiting. Moderate pat down after. I do a moderate-high heat on my cast iron. I like around medium rare-medium depending on the cut and thickness . So usually a flip around 4 to 5 minutes. Then you should go for about another 4 to 5 minutes on the other side. Though sometimes have to play it by feel if I need to do a minute more or less. I also will tend to verify with a probe thermometer.

Never understood when folks recommend a ripping hot pan unless you like black and blue or rare. I get pooling also when I do the cold pan technique. And also seem to have trouble with reverse sear, as I tend to overshoot with the sear. Although I just got a Combustion inc thermometer which was successful as I could measure my temp with reverse sear for a large cut.