You trust Kenny don’t you? It’s the second thing he says in the chorus. Just listen to the man. Sometimes you’ve just gotta make like Circuit City and fold.
To many players, folding is the most boring play you can possibly make in poker. You’re not going to win any pots by folding, and mucking your cards takes a lot of excitement away from the hand on your part. But what many players don’t realize is that this seemingly boring play can save you a ton of money in the long run.
In fact, knowing when to fold is what separates successful players from bad ones. But just talking about the benefits of folding isn’t much help so let’s take a look at a scenario where folding can make all the difference.
Assume you’re in a 6-handed, $0.50/$1 No-Limit game where you haven’t gotten any decent cards in a while. The players at the table have all been playing loose/aggressive, and you’ve got the third largest stack on the table with $170. You’re dealt pocket jacks in late-middle position which means you’ve finally got the cards you’ve been looking for. With the pot sitting at $1.50, the early position player raises to $5 prompting the player before you to fold.
Let’s say you raise $20, and the late position player (also the biggest stack) shoves their $220 in the middle causing both blinds to fold. The early position player who raised to $5 makes the call with their remaining $120 stack. Now with two players all-in, you’re forced to make an all-in wager if you want to stay in the hand.
As you might’ve guessed, making the call would be a bad move since an early position player is all-in plus the late position player could possibly have you beaten too. You can almost be sure that the early position player has AA-QQ or, at the very least, AK and the late position player probably has at least pocket 9’s.
But even assuming that both players only have AK and pocket 9’s, you’re still going to win under half the time against the field so an all-in call here is definitely a bad move. Although it’s hard to muck those pocket jacks when the cards have been running bad for you, it is the correct move in this situation.
Tags: Poker Hands, Tips
