When you fold your hand in poker, you place it in the middle of the table facing the dealer. To win the pot, you must forfeit the present pot and be unable to take any further action for the remainder of the hand.
In poker, there’s an ancient proverb that still holds true today: “You’ve got to know when to hold’em and when to fold’em.” Every decision you make at the poker table has an impact on your bankroll, determining both how much you’ll earn or lose on average (and whether or not you’ll be a winner).
It’s also for a good reason: pursuing an aggressive overall strategy will provide you with more opportunities to win the pot than simply at showdown. It will almost always yield a higher profit than a more generic approach.
Folding is the most unappealing aspect in poker. Your cards hit the muck, you give your opponent the pot, and you move on to the next hand. But the honest truth is that poker players fall into two main categories:
- Players who fold far too frequently
- Players that fold way too infrequently.
However, there is a third type of player. A rare breed of poker player who folds the correct percentage of the time and keeps their continuation frequencies and ranges on track during a poker hand.
Why Folding is the Best Option?
- You’re positive you have the worst hand, and you’re also up against a wager.
- In comparison to the pot odds, you don’t have a good probability of improving to the best hand.
- You’re not sure if you’re ahead or behind, but to find out, you’d have to place a large wager now or later in the hand.
- You’re receiving odds to call, but you’re not finishing the action, and it’s highly likely that someone behind you will make it too costly to keep playing.
- In the same way that there are times when folding is the optimal play, there are times when it isn’t:
- Instead, you can check.
- You’re well aware that you have the best hand.
- You know you have the worst hand, but you’re receiving the right odds to call regardless with your draw.
- You’re aware that you’re behind, but you’re also confident that a bluff will win you the game.
Key Aspects of Folding
As you can see from the examples of folding and non-folding situations above, there are various other factors to examine in order to determine a fold besides your cards. These are:
- Your odds
- The action conducted after you or later in the hand
When you know you’re beat, you can also bluff instead of folding, but that’s outside the scope of this essay. Folding is typically the best play at lesser stakes because there are too many loose calling stations waiting to call down your bluff.
All in all, your aim should be to make it to the showdown, and win. But, sometimes it is smarter to fold and be a profitable player rather than run losses. As we conclude, you’ve probably gotten the hang of the poker fold. Now, all you need to do is – play some poker and give the poker fold a try. So, come join us at Spartan, and play some poker games.
