Poker Pro Shares 5 Situations Where Folding Is The Best Move

In poker, knowing when to play your cards is important—but knowing when to let them go can be even more powerful. There are moments at the table when folding isn’t a sign of weakness, but the smartest path to long-term success.

Fitzgerald advises folding when facing a raise and a reraise, depending on the opponent's tendencies. Let’s say you have 10-10 or A-Q offsuit. You are on the button. You look down at your hand early and you get excited because you have something playable. Then, something strange happens. The lojack opens, and the hijack immediately makes a large reraise. You can’t always just cold call here on the button. A lot depends on the three-bettor. Ask yourself, “does my opponent do this play with X?” with X being the best hand that you beat. Does your opponent reraise with 9-9? That’s pertinent information if you have 10-10. If they don’t three-bet that hand, what exactly are you beating? Does your opponent do this reraise with A-J? That is important to know if you have A-Q. If they’re not making that three-bet, then what are you beating? Sometimes a solid player will be making that three-bet and you need to immediately fold. Other times, it will be some young twerp who just saw his first poker training video, and you need to get in their face. But you have to make that judgment call.

Fitzgerald recommends folding when facing a triple barrel, as most players do not commit to a triple barrel bluff. Honestly, if I don’t have two pair or better, I’m not that interested in calling anyone’s triple barrel. Why? The vast majority of the North American public and much of the rest of the world will not commit to a triple barrel bluff. I’m almost proud of my opponents when they do it to me. That’s how rare it is. If you don’t believe me, try to teach some of your poker buddies how to triple barrel bluff. See how it works. Ask them in a month how many triple barrel bluffs they’ve done. The problem is most people feel embarrassed when their triple barrel bluff gets called. They feel like if the river gets folded, they’re winning a medium-sized pot, but if they get called, they’re losing a huge pot. One outcome is moderately satisfying, and the other is humiliating. Those aren’t good emotional odds for them.