Fold In Poker Means

Based on the three cards, the player can either fold the hand or continue by placing a play bet. If the player folds, he loses the original ante bet wager. If he continues, the cost of the play bet is equal to the ante bet. Assuming the player continues, the dealer turns over his three cards. A loosely-defined term that entered the poker lexicon from short-stacked tournament play. In that context 'having fold equity' means having enough chips to compel an opponent (typically the big blind) to fold if you shove. Also used informally to describe the added EV we gain by taking an aggressive action, thereby causing our opponent to fold. In an online poker room with the choice to pre-select one's action, to indicate that one wishes to check if possible and fold if it is not possible to check; to indicate one wishes to pass. Luckily, many important situations in tournament poker actually are purely push/fold or are close enough that push/fold models will still be very valuable - but my point in writing this is to say that tournament poker ICM considerations don’t stop at push/call decisions, they always exist, after a fold and even in post-flop play so a player. Isolate – To make a raise with the intention of forcing others to fold in hopes of being able to play heads up against a single opponent is to isolate him. Limp – To just flat call the amount of the big blind is to limp into a hand. Monster – A very strong hand that is almost certainly the winner. Muck – Folding your hand is to muck it.

1. What Does It Mean To Fold In Poker
2. Fold In Poker Means Play
3. Fold In Poker Means
4. Fold In Poker Means To Play

These might be the 2 most important factors in poker besides understanding the standard ranking of poker hands.

And like most seemingly easy questions, the answers to these questions are more complicated than you might think. When it comes to how the order of betting works in poker, it depends on which game you’re playing. Luckily, most poker games can be sorted into 3 categories, and within each category, the order of betting is more or less the same.

When it comes to knowing when to bet, check, fold, or raise—well, there are 2 ways to answer that question. The first answer is simple enough—you know when to bet, check, fold, or raise when it’s your turn—not before, please.

The 2nd answer is more complicated, because it looks at the question from a different perspective. In that case, we’re talking about “which situations” when we use the word “when.”

I’ll address all these aspects of these 2 questions in this post.

Let’s Start with the Possible Betting Actions You Can Take

In poker, you’re always choosing just one of the following options when it’s your turn to bet:

• Checking
• Betting
• Raising
• Calling
• Folding

When no one else has bet yet, checking is an option. This means you’re not risking any money, but you want to stay in the hand. If everyone else checks, you move on to the next round of the game. Most of the time, though, someone will bet. When it comes back to your turn again, you’ll have to decide what to do then.

Betting is when you’re the first person to put money into the pot. The other players have to decide whether to call or raise your bet. They also have the option of folding.

Calling is when a player acts after you and puts in the same amount of money you bet. You’re both still in the hand at this point, and that money goes into the pot.

Raising is when you call your opponent’s bet but add to it. You usually need to raise the same amount as the initial bet. The original bettor has to match your raise to stay in the hand. He can also re-raise.

Folding means to drop out of the hand. You don’t have to put any money into the pot, but you also forfeit your hand and any claim to the pot.

The most basic form of poker that almost everyone learns to play as a child is 5 card draw. In 5 card draw, each player gets 5 cards, all of which are dealt face down. There are 2 rounds of betting—you get to bet on your initial hand. After that round of betting, you get to discard and replace cards in your hand. This is followed by a 2nd round of betting and possibly a showdown.

Most people only play 5 card draw in home poker games these days. You’re required to put up a forced bet (called an ante) before getting a hand. In most home poker games, the position of dealer rotates around the table after each hand.

The word “open” in this context means to place the 1st bet. Until someone places a bet, the players have the option to “check” their hand. This means they don’t risk any money, but they’re still in the hand. Once someone opens the betting, players who checked previously eventually (when it’s their turn) get to decide whether to call, fold, or raise.

When Should You Bet, Call, Fold, or Raise in 5 Card Draw Poker

In most games of poker, including 5 card draw, calling is usually a mistake. Poker rewards aggression, so most of the time, you should bet or raise. If you’re not feeling good enough about your hand to bet or raise, you should check or fold. Calling is a weak move.

In most home poker games of 5 card draw, you’ll see a lot of players limping. That’s the wrong way to play. If you bet and raise when everyone else is limping, you’ll come out ahead in a lot of home poker games.

You might also draw to a flush or to a straight, but you only do this if you’re going to be in the pot with at least 2 or 3 other players. If you don’t have enough other players in the pot with you, you won’t get paid off if you make your hand. This is the exception to the “don’t limp” strategy I mentioned earlier.

Depending on the strength and tendencies of your opponents, you might sometimes bluff if you have nothing. This means betting or raising even though your opponent might have you beat. This works best when you know your opponent is weak. It also helps to have a reputation as a tight aggressive player.

The Order of Betting in Holdem Games (Community Card Poker Games)

The most popular poker game in most home games and most casinos now is Texas holdem, but it’s only one in a broader category of games called “community card” games or “holdem games.” In common parlance, when someone mentions holdem, they’re usually referring to Texas holdem. But the proper name for Omaha is “Omaha holdem.”

Regardless of which variation you’re playing, the order of betting is more or less the same from one holdem game to another.

One of the differences between holdem games and draw poker games is the forced bet. In 5 card draw, everyone puts up an ante before getting any cards. (This is also true in most stud games.)

The dealer button and the blinds determine the betting order in holdem games. And there are 4 rounds of betting in holdem games.

The 1st round of betting comes after everyone gets their face down cards in their own hands. The 2nd round of betting comes after the flop, which is when the 1st 3 community cards are dealt. There’s another round called the turn where a 4th community card is dealt. And finally, there’s a river card—the last of the 5 community cards.

All holdem games have 5 community cards dealt in that order. The differences between holdem games have to do with how many hole cards you get and what combination of hole cards and community cards you have to use to make your final hand.

Before the flop, the betting begins with the player to the left of the big blind. (There are 2 blinds—big and little. The sizes of these blinds vary based on the limits.) This means that the player in the big blind acts last.

During all the subsequent betting rounds, the blinds are the first players to act, starting with the small blind. Betting rotates around the table in clockwise order, which means you act immediately after the player to your right has acted.

When Should You Bet, Call, Fold, or Raise in Holdem Poker

Okay, this is where things get complicated. The short, practical answer is the same:

When it’s your turn. But let’s talk a little bit about tight aggressive player.

New players probably benefit from learning a tight aggressive strategy. Loose aggressive players do well, too, especially in no limit games—but for the beginner, tight aggressive is better.

What does this mean?

A tight player only plays good hands. He folds a lot. This means you should fold unless you have a better than average hand. You should also fold if you have a marginal hand but in a lousy position. If you play a lot of hands, you’ll usually lose money. Players who participate in lots of hands are called loose players.

An aggressive player bets and raises when he’s in a hand. If you just check and call, you’re a passive player. Aggressive players make more money because they pick up a lot of dead money when they win pots uncontested. They also make more money when they have good hands because they’ve been actively increasing the sizes of the pots.

So if you’re a beginner, how do you know what to do in which situation?

Also, holdem is a game that’s determined after the flop, too. If the flop doesn’t fit your hand, don’t be afraid to fold when the flop hits. Don’t keep putting money into the pot unless you think you have a reasonable chance of winning a showdown or of running everyone else out of the pot.

The most popular variations of stud poker now played in casinos are 5 card stud and 7 card stud. These games feature face up cards and face down cards, but no one shares cards. You play the cards in your hand.

The action in a stud poker game happens in streets. The first betting round happens after the first 2 cards are dealt (in 5-card stud) or after the first 3 cards dealt (in 7-card stud). After that, there’s a round of betting after each card.

Unlike in holdem and draw poker games, who acts first can change from betting round to betting round. Like draw poker games, stud poker games usually involve a forced bet from every player called an ante.

On the other streets, the first person to act is the person with the best poker hand showing on his face up cards. The order can change on every street, or it can remain the same. It just depends on where the cards land.

When Should You Bet, Call, Fold, or Raise in Stud Poker

Just like with every form of poker, you should always wait until it’s your turn to take your betting action.

If you don’t have something after getting your first 2 or 3 cards, you should almost always fold. It’s hard to win at poker if you keep putting money in the pot when you’re not the lead horse in the race.

You make decisions based on when to bet or raise based on how likely you are to have the best hand. If you have high cards, you should play aggressively.

But if you’re playing speculative hands—flush draws or straight draws—you need to pay attention to whether your cards are live. If you’re drawing to a flush, but 3 cards or more of the suit you need are already out there, you’re drawing dead. It’ll be hard to make your hand.

One of the advantages you can gain in poker is positional. The later you act, the more information you have about the other players and their cards. If you act before it’s your turn, you give up that advantage.

It’s also considered rude.

Just wait until it’s your turn to act, dude.

Conclusion

Knowing when to act in poker is easy. You just need to know which version of poker you’re playing:

• Draw poker
• Holdem poker
• Stud poker

Betting always moves clockwise around the table. The changes that matter depend on who bets first. Once you know how that works for each variation, you’re all set.

Deciding what to do and why is the subject of every poker strategy book ever written. But in general, I suggest playing a tight aggressive game. Get good cards, bet them hard, and fold everything else.

If you’re just starting, that approach will do more to help you win money than anything else.

We are led to believe by TV commentators that knowing when to fold because their opponent is holding the nuts is some innate ability that only a few people possess. There are also superstitious players out there that think others can “read souls.” This is all a bunch of hogwash.

Knowing when to fold in poker is about understanding expected value (EV). Over the long term, if calling or raising loses more money than folding does, then the correct play is to muck your hand.

As you study and learn more and more about ranges you will know that making correct folds does not take clairvoyance. All it takes is observation and a good perception of how your opponent’s ranges and actions tell a story. Once you factor in the table dynamic, you can think more accurately decide if folding is the best action. While learning these advanced concepts, you can follow a few rules and avoid a few common pitfalls where people commonly make -EV decisions.

Here are 6 common scenarios to look out for.

1. Your Preflop Hand Is Trash

This may seem obvious to poker players with a lot of experience. However, I feel it is worth including in this list since I still see people showing up with junk hands that are glaringly unprofitable to play.

Stick to a Solid Opening Range

A good rule of thumb is that if you are not in late position (seated on the Cutoff or later) then you should probably be sticking to a fairly tight opening range. In fact, most players would see a significant uptick in their win-rate if they stuck to the following range or even slightly tighter when seated in early or middle position:

By sticking to hands that are weighted heavily on the high card and suited end of the spectrum, post-flop decisions will become a lot more straightforward. It’s when you start adding in trash like KTo to a non-stealing range that you get in big trouble way too often.

Stop Calling 3-Bets with Junk

You should have a very selective range for calling an opponent’s 3-bet. In fact, the less post-flop skill you have the tighter you should be. Your 3-bet flatting range might look something like this:

This range includes hands that can flop monster hands and draws and avoid a lot of reverse implied odds situations. In other words, you will find yourself being dominated a lot less by calling with a disciplined range like this. Once you gain experience and start mixing in some 4-bet bluffs, you will become a pain in the butt to 3-bet against.

Stop Flat-Calling Rubbish in the Blinds

Calling in the blinds violates all three of my poker fundamentals. Once the flop comes down you will be out of position without initiative and unable to easily apply pressure to your opponent.

It takes a ton of skill to be able to profit from flat-calling in the blinds with a wide range. You need to understand your opponent and have some sort of post-flop plan before you click that call button. For most players, you are much better off sticking to a 3-bet or fold mentality when seated in the blinds. This is especially true in the small blind.

2. You Are Priced out of Your Draw

Sorry, I know this one seems obvious. But I still see this constantly happening on my tables even today.

The issue isn’t that people don’t know about the direct odds of a draw. It’s that they are overly optimistic when it comes to implied odds. As a result, they consistently fall victim to reverse implied odds.

Considering Reverse Implied Odds

Reverse implied odds means that you make a call attempting to hit one of your “outs” but when you do, it either makes your opponent an even better hand at the same time or he or she may have already had a better hand to begin with. Think paired boards.

Here are a few examples of holdings that are susceptible to reverse implied odds:

• Dummy end straights
• Low flush draws
• Flush or straight draws on paired boards
• Straight draws on two-tone boards
• Overcards

Before deciding whether to call a raise with your draw, you need to check to see if any of your outs are dirty. In other words, how many of the potential out cards might make your opponent a better hand.

For example, you hold an open-ended straight draw on a two-tone flop. Normally, you would have 8 outs. However, in this case, 2 of the outs will complete a flush and potentially complete a better draw for your opponents. Therefore, you only have 6 “clean” outs.

Another thing that can drastically reduce your odds is your position.

Holding a Draw When You Don’t Close the Action

Even if you have a good price and hold a hand with a lot of “non-dirty” implied odds, if you face a raise or reraise and are not closing the action, the profitability of making a call with a drawing hand goes way down in value. This is because the player or players behind you can put in another raise and force you to fold away your investment in the pot.

A good rule of thumb is to consider at your opponent who has yet to act behind you. If they are passive or a bad player, then you should tend to make the implied odds call. If they are a reg (especially an aggressive one) then just err on the side of folding without an enormously good price.

The main theme here is that when figuring out your odds and implied odds make sure you are not overplaying your equity. Often, you may find that your situation is not as good as it appears to be at first glance and maybe you should just fold.

3. You Hold Less Than the Nuts and Your Opponent Is Ultra-Tight

If your opponent’s range is unbalanced toward value and you hold a marginal hand, the vast majority of the time you should probably just pitch it and move on.

Just keep in mind that your implied odds will also generally be through the roof versus these players so you can fudge your requirements with draws against them. This is especially true with draws that would be really well-disguised were you to complete it.

Moral of the story: Made hands go down in value while draws go up in value in situations where you are up against a strong range.

For example, take a T32 rainbow board. Let’s say you c-bet and get raised by a tight nitty player in the blinds with a fold to c-bet of 80% and a raise flop c-bet of 3%. Let’s consider which parts of your range you should continue with and which you should fold.

Let’s say you are in the Cutoff and this was your opening range:

Now, let’s say this was your continuation bet range:

Which hands should you continue with against an ultra-tight opponent? Of course, you will want to not fold your very strongest hands like 22, 33, and TT. But let’s see what your equity is in this spot with all of your top pair and overpair hands that bet.

Oops. It looks like you are crushed with just about every hand in your range. In fact, only AA is profitable to continue with in this spot.

Of course, I was generous in the range I gave our opponent and included QQ+ in his range that he may have slowplayed pre-flop. And, there’s no guarantee of that. It is likely that a really tight player will always 3-bet at least KK and AA.

Now, let’s give our opponent the same range and look at how the gutshot straight draws in your range fair.

In this case, having nothing but an inside straight draw actually gives you more equity than your non-nut made hands versus a tight player. Of course, 22% equity isn’t something to write home about.

However, if you actually make your hand on the turn or river it will be very disguised. You are almost certain to get the rest of your opponent’s stack. Therefore, due to implied odds, you should always call a normal-sized raise with this part of your range.

Moral of the story: If you have less than 2-pair on the flop or hold a high implied odds hand, you should just fold versus the raise of an ultra-tight player.

Now that we know about when to fold against a tight player, what if you have the same type of image? Does this affect your folding strategy? Let’s take a look.

4. You Have a Tight Image

This is getting a little next level. But imagine you have sat down at a table and played a few revolutions. The poker gods have not been kind and you have been dealt absolute rubbish for 3 hours. Your VPIP is more than half what it normally is and you quickly realize that you look like a complete rock.

Let’s say a similar setup occurs that we faced versus the tight player in #4. You open and then get check-raised by an opponent you have no long-term history with. Except for this time, he is far from tight.

This opponent is obviously a competent loose-aggressive player who folds to c-bet 40% and check-raises 20% of the time. It seems obvious that we should be tightening up our c-bet range and then folding almost no made hands in this spot, right?

Wrong.

Remember, all this player knows about you is that this is one of the only hands you have open-raised this session. Therefore, you can expect him to adjust versus your “tightness” and probably play very differently versus you than his stats might indicate.

What Does It Mean To Fold In Poker

On the other hand, he is still a loose player and isn’t likely to be as tight as the other guy. Therefore, you should not fold as much of your range as versus the proven tight player but you should also not just slam dunk get it in with your top pairs. A much better strategy is to go into “bluff-catch mode” with your strongest hands: sets, overpairs, top pair top kicker, and your high implied odds hands. Then, just call down with them.

However, go ahead and fold your weak top pairs. While it might be painful versus this type of opponent, it is still the correct play based on your image.

5. You Have a Strong Hand but Worse Is Unlikely to Raise

Getting involved with these seemingly strong hands that are actually very marginal or losers is a much more common scenario and thus the source consistent bleeding.

Let’s say you hold a really strong hand but not the nuts. Your opponent is tight and you get reraised. These can be some of the most agonizing situations. However, if you just look at your opponent’s perceived range it becomes a lot easier.

Pre-Flop Versus a 3-bet

You open QQ in early position and then get 3-bet by a guy who has only 3-bet someone once in his last 100 opportunities. You suspect that he is only 3-betting with QQ+, and you are not even sure he would with QQ. As crazy as this sounds, you should never 4-bet in this spot and only set mine if you have a good price to do so.

4-bet Situations

Generally, a 4-bet is almost always the same type of situation as our 3-betting example. Let’s look at a hand history.

No-Limit Hold’em, $0.50 BB (6 handed)

UTG ($47)
MP ($72.10)
CO ($66.42) Opens 20% from cutoff
Button ($51.37 3% 3-bet
SB ($92.59) 4% 3-betting TAG regular
Hero (BB) ($12.12)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q♥, Q♠
2 folds, CO bets $1.34, Button raises to $4.18, SB raises to $92.59 (All-In), 3 folds
Wow, look at that action. The 4-bettors range here is QQ+ and AK (At worst). We have 40% equity against that range. Not good enough since we only have a big blind involved. This should be a snap fold, even for a short stack. Crazy, no?

This is an extreme example, but you will face many tough decisions with hands such as 99, TT, AQ, and even AK sometimes. Being able to spot a marginal all-in decision is not so much a talent as simply having a knowledge of ranges. With that in mind, let’s look at a common post-flop scenario.

It’s a River Raise and You Don’t Hold the Nuts

Turn raises are usually the nuts, river raises are almost always the nuts. This is something I heard from Blackrain many many years ago. Even today, it still is generally true in the vast majority of poker games.

Understanding when strong hands are 2nd best is an ability born from a study of ranges and relative hand strengths. As Kenny Rogers said, you gotta “know when to hold’em and know when to fold’em.” But even if you figure out that you are beating absolutely nothing on the river when facing aggression, and you know that your opponent’s betting pattern screams monster, it is sometimes still very difficult to find the fold button.

Think about all of the times you have called with one pair after getting raised on the river. How many times did you actually win? Be honest here. Depending on your experience, you can probably count the number of times on one hand.

Being able to bluff raise a river is a skill that very very very few players possess. And since very few people fold big hands to river raises, in most games it is a skill that you really need not acquire. Here is a classic example of beating nothing on the river but calling with a seemingly strong hand anyway.

Example #1: Trips no good

No-Limit Hold’em, $0.50 BB (5 handed)

UTG ($50.81)
MP ($28.50)
Button ($30.60)
SB ($25.23)
Hero (BB) ($16.75)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q♠, 7♦
3 folds, SB calls $0.25, Hero checks
Small blind is a passive calling station. There was no point in raising pre-flop since he is never folding, and shoving seems silly since he will probably limp-call a fairly wide range.

Flop: ($1) Q♦, 3♠, 9♦(2 players)
SB bets $1, Hero calls $1
We flop the nuts against the station and plan to go for three streets of value.

Turn: ($3) Q♥(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2, SB calls $2
A good river card in the sense that he will be more likely to stick around with a 3 or 9 in his hand and it makes it less likely that he has a queen. Also, there are plenty draws which make value betting here is a must.

River: ($7) K♣(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3.50, SB raises to $17.50, Hero calls $9.75 (All-In)
We try to get value from the weaker pairs in his range and boom, we get check-raised all-in. The only hands that he would raise for value are full houses, trip queens, and a straight. Since it is unlikely he has a queen, then 33, 99, and JT are most obvious. And since calling stations are passive players by nature, a bluff raise seems out of the question. So taking all factors into account and the fact that we are, at best, only tying if he has a queen, this is an obvious fold. But like most players, I was married to my hand and called the raise.

Total pot: $33.50 Rake: $1.65

Results:
SB had 10♦, J♦ (straight, King high).
Hero had Q♠, 7♦ (three of a kind, Queens).
Outcome: SB won $31.85
Our opponent flopped an open-ended straight flush draw and did not raise the flop, thus confirming our read that he is a passive player. It’s hard to think of trips as a bluff catcher with no flush possible, but in this case, that’s all it was.

The only time you should ever call in this type of spot is if you can legitimately count at least 2-3 hands that might raise that you beat, you probably should call. Give your opponent a range and narrow it based on your read and his action, and stick to it.

Ultimately, bad river calls may seem like a huge leak since you lose a lot of money at once when it happens. But making the 2nd best nut hand and getting raised on the river is not something that happens very often. So while it’s a leak, it’s not really going to destroy your long term bottom line. It’s just one piece of the overall puzzle. If you’re getting this wrong, you’re probably leaking in a lot of other areas as well.

6. You Have a Tell on Your Opponent

This is actually the least reliable thing to go, but it can help in on the fence decisions.

Live Tells

In live games here are several tells you can use to tell if your opponent is strong. Here are 3 tells that indicate strength:

1. Your opponent is making an obvious effort to feign weakness- It’s probably best to get rid of the 2nd or third nuts.
2. He is trying to act relaxed or appears genuinely relaxed- He might order a drink or engage in conversation with another player. It is highly unlikely someone doing this is bluffing.
3. Shaking Hands- While this might seem to be more of a sign of weakness, it usually actually means they are really excited about their hand.

Online Tells

You might think there is no such thing as an online tell. Think again. Through experience, I have found a few common moves to be reliable indicators of an opponent’s strength.

1. Tanking before raising- This one almost always indicates the nuts. I actually learned this from watching over my dad’s shoulder. Anytime he would hold a really strong hand he would say something like, “Now, I’ll take a long time here to make him think I’m weak…” Then he would spring a raise on his opponent. So, when you see someone use up nearly all of their timebank and then reraise, you can be fairly certain they are trying to pretend to be indecisive. Nice try buddy.
2. The massive river overbet- If someone is bluffing on the river, more often than not they will try to bet the minimum that they think will be successful. Usually, when you see a big overbet it’s not an attempt to “blow you off your hand.” In my experience, this is usually what I call a “make up bet.” In other words, they are mad that the pot is not any bigger than it already is and they are trying to make up for that fact by artificially bloating the pot on the turn or river.

If you think your call is marginal and your opponent gives away any of these common tells, you will likely want to fold your hand with a quickness.

Final Thoughts

Fold In Poker Means Play

It can be difficult to know for sure whether a fold is the best course of action or not. However, if you just follow these few “rules” that I have laid out, you really can’t go wrong.

Fold In Poker Means

The most important thing to keep in mind is that part of the art of being a skilled poker player is setting yourself up for straightforward decisions while at the same time creating difficult spots for your opponents. The easier your decisions are, the more likely it is that you are going to make good decisions. And this all starts with pre-flop planning.

Fold In Poker Means To Play

To help improve how well you plan your hands, check out this article that I wrote a while back. I hope it puts you on a path to even more profit at the tables.