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The saying goes “winners know when to quit” and that is never truer than it is in poker. Kenny got it right too, you need to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em. Folding or ‘mucking’ is to throw in your current hand and forfeit your stake at the pot. It is a difficult thing to do made more so if you are one of the blinds and already have chips in the pot. It is especially difficult online with reality suspended except for your dwindling stack… Strategic advice for folding is as many times divided as there are games of poker.
Most of it hinges on a particular strategy and style of play; so if the objective is to unsettle your opponents in tournament play, passive players should fold less often and aggressive players should fold on hands that they’d normally run with. But these are specifics that will only come in as your individual game develops. That being said there are some golden rules regarding folding:
- Focus on the flop and fold that good hand if you know you’re beat.
- A face card alone will never cover a low kicker, eg K-8. Fold it.
- Don’t fall in love with your cards. Pocket aces mean nothing to a straight.
- Watch out for straights and flushes on the turn, play the odds and fold it if need be.
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