The Ultimate Guide To Folding In Poker

One of the most common ways to determine how often you should fold is by using pot odds. Using pot odds, you can figure out the amount of equity your hand needs against your opponent’s range for it to be a profitable call. If your hand is a profitable call, then you call, and if you don’t, you fold… sounds easy, right? S

Not quite. If you’re playing against good players, you’ll need to defend enough against postflop bets to avoid exploitation. This means that sometimes you’ll need to call with hands that don’t meet the equity requirements given to you by the pot odds if it’s high enough up in your range. This is referred to as the minimum defense frequency (MDF), which can be worked out by dividing the amount you need to call by the size of the pot and then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage. 

Example: Your opponent bets $100 into a $100 pot.

 $100/$200 x 100 = 50% 

Therefore, you need to defend 50% of your range against that bet to avoid getting exploited).

However, in practice, it’s doubtful you’ll need to use MDFs when you’re playing, as most players are too unbalanced for it to be worth it. The only time where it’s recommended you do so is when you’re playing against unknown players or in an unfamiliar environment.

Even then, as soon as you develop reads/tendencies on your opponents, you should focus more on how to exploit them. This is why you look at other factors, such as your opponent’s range and playing style, to make your decision.

For example, if your opponent is an extremely tight player who rarely bluffs, they will likely be extremely value-heavy when they make a bet. In these situations, you can disregard MDF and exploitatively fold more than you “should.”

Almost all players you face will either be overbluffing or underbluffing to a certain extent, so you need to use all the information you have on them to decide which way they lean, which then tells you how often you should be folding.

Now that you know what to consider before making a fold, when do you do it? Unfortunately, it’s a question that doesn’t have an easy answer, as many different variables need to be considered before making your decision. However, to make things easier for you, we’ve laid out what to look out for when deciding when to fold preflop, postflop, and when you have top pair.

When it comes to playing hands preflop, the reality is that most of the hands you get dealt should be folded. Around 40-50% of hands should be folded in almost every scenario. On top of that, you should increase the number of hands you fold as you get further away from the BTN. In fact, in a 9-handed game, you should only be raising around 15% of your hands from UTG, meaning that 85% of the hands you’re dealt in that position will be folded!

Even if you’re in a later position, such as the CO, you should still be folding over 65% of your hands, and that’s if the action folds to you. If someone raises before you, you should be folding the majority of your hands, only defending by 3betting or calling with the top 5-15% of your hands.

If you’re a serious poker player, you should know your raising ranges for every position at the table. When the action folds to you, you should know before you look at your cards which ones you’re raising and which you’re folding. Not only does this help speed the game up and allow you to get more hands in, but it also gives you a clear starting point when thinking about postflop ranges. Preflop charts like the one below are a great starting point if you need help remembering your preflop ranges.

When we get to postflop, knowing when to fold can be trickier as there aren’t predetermined ranges you can follow. Instead, you need to factor in your opponent’s range, your hand strength, and the pot odds you’re being given to determine whether a fold is the right option.

Those who like to take a game theory optimal (GTO) approach may find it easier to know when to fold. One method they can employ is called Minimum Defense Frequency. This is a method that players can use to determine how much of their range they should continue with, factoring in their opponent’s bet. Working out MDF is typically done using the following equation – pot size / (pot size + bet size).

We mentioned earlier that almost all the players you’re likely to face at the tables aren’t going to be playing balanced enough to make MDF a necessity. In fact, it can be more profitable to look for areas of imbalance from your opponents and try to exploit those. Here are common examples you can use in-game to make it easier to know when to fold postflop:

• When you’re playing against a tight player who rarely bluffs who’s made a big bet.
• When you’re facing a triple barrel bet on the river against a tight opponent.
• When a previously passive player starts betting aggressively.
• When a recreational player overbets the pot.

These are all scenarios that are extremely under-bluffed, so if you come across any of these in-game, you should be highly cautious about continuing against a bet.

Other scenarios where folding is recommended include when your hand is just too weak to continue. Unless your opponent bluffs far too often, it’s best to just fold the weakest hands in your range and only continue when your hand is likely best. Some of these examples include:

• When you have a pocket pair, and two or more overcards hit the flop.
• When you have bottom pair against a large bet.
• When you have a draw but don’t have the right odds to call.
• When you have a hand that has no pair and no drawing potential.

In these situations, it almost doesn’t matter how strong your opponent’s range is. As long as they’re playing a reasonable range, your hand is too weak to continue, so the recommended play is to fold.

For many players, holding top pair in their hands and folding would feel wrong. There are many times, however, when folding top pair is actually the best thing to do, especially if you are following minimum defense frequency.

If, for example, you have an opponent that calls on the flop and turns and then makes a big bet on the river, there is a chance that you have a weaker hand and you should fold. A player becoming aggressive all of a sudden is often an indication in these circumstances. Likewise, if someone keeps firing massive bets in the game and you find yourself under pressure, folding the top pair may be the best idea.