Discuss

I originally wanted to write an article about why it is good to fold when you are unsure about where you are in the hand, but I decided that I would group aggressiveness into it and show how folding a hand you are unsure can actually be profitable via later aggression. 

When I talk about folding I am not talking about you hit no pair and have no draw and then you fold that is easy.  I am talking about when you have over pair, top pair or a good hand preflop and the ability to fold these.  All of this I am talking about is mostly for MTT's and SNG's, but it can also be used for No Limit Ring games cause the biggest sucker at a cash game is someone who can not fold over pair or top pair.

If you want to be able to fold an hand you have to be able to do a few things:

• Read people(hard to do online but can tell by betting time)
• Remember how they play hands
• Look at what this call will do to you in the overall scheme of the tourney.
• Being able to raise and reraise and not fall in love with hand.
• Be ok with being bluffed and not having it effect you(Biggest thing have to swallow ego)

Reading people is something that takes years of practice and with so much material on what clear tells are people practice avoiding them and/or faking them.  Hopefully when the decision comes up whether are not to fold it is later in tourney and you have seen them play a few hands.  You may know that when they bluff they bet over the pot, but when they have a monster then bet smaller.  If you are online you should know what their betting time is like, alot of folks if their connection is fine bet fast when they bluff and take some time when they have a monster(think about that try to avoid that). 

There are also some clear clues and pretty standard ways people play hands, Let's say that you have 2k in chips the blinds are 30/60 and  you have QQ and have one guy that limped in 2nd position you make a standard raise of 4x(little more than 3x cause the other guy in the pot), well everyone folds and this guy just smooth calls your raise.  This play usually tells me a couple of things we are messing with low pp 77 and under or a hand like A10 or AJ.  We are going to say this person is tight and also does not raise preflop much but we have seen him raise with JJ, AK and KK(pretty standard player).  So the flop comes 248, he checks to you and bet 1/2 of pot and he reraises you all in. So you have 440 in pot and need to call 1200 more to see what this guy has.  I personally think this is an easy fold.   Here is why:

• You have enough chips for blind levels
• I think that I am better than everyone at the table and can out play them, you have to think this if not then just go all in preflop with QQ and gamble, and will get more chips later without a showdown.
• You might be able to use this play later to set someone up 
• Everything leads to him flopping a set.

Here is another thing remember how they play hands, do they bluff alot, do they slow play top pair, will they call anything for a draw and try to value bet when they hit draw, what percentage of pots they play, how aggressive are they?   I remember MrFish(phil) writing something about folding a set of 9's on the flop against an ultra tight person cause he thought he flopped a set of A's or K's and the guy showed his set, he knew his player.

Ok here is the biggest thing for a tournament.  If you are having an easy time stealing blinds and out playing people why call off half your chips with a small pp and hope to win a coin toss or call a raise from an another big stack with a hand like KJ, AJ, A10 and if you are going to try and play these hands then reraise him and if he comes back over the top then you have to fold.  Which is another one, just because you where the first one to raise or reraised someone does not mean that you can now not fold.  I see this all the time people with a hand like AQ come in for a standard raise, then get reraised from a solid player with alot of chips and then they try and push it all in with an even stack.  Yep and guess what the other person has AA,KK,QQ, or AK  They are bounced from the tourney with AQ.  What is wrong with raising here other big stack comes over the top you fold and then few hands later steal the blinds a couple of times and get chips back.  Here is an example where I laid down a mid pp and then got some chip back the next hand.

PokerStars Game #2989603814: Tournament #14762780, Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2005/11/06 - 16:23:35 (ET)
Table '14762780 1' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: SHERIBR (3185 in chips)
Seat 2: pegrn (1065 in chips)
Seat 3: eastharbor (820 in chips)
Seat 5: JBiver (2200 in chips)
Seat 7: oscareyes (1815 in chips)
Seat 8: wrongshui (1450 in chips)
Seat 9: BubbaR (2965 in chips)
pegrn: posts small blind 25
eastharbor: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SHERIBR [9c 9h]
JBiver: calls 50
oscareyes: raises 200 to 250
wrongshui: folds
BubbaR: folds
SHERIBR: folds
pegrn: folds
eastharbor: folds
JBiver: folds
oscareyes collected 175 from pot
oscareyes: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 175 | Rake 0
Seat 1: SHERIBR (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: pegrn (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: eastharbor (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: JBiver folded before Flop
Seat 7: oscareyes collected (175)
Seat 8: wrongshui folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: BubbaR folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Ok let's look at this a guy 1800 in chips just raised into a small stack who has 820 left almost 1/2 of the initial raisers stack.  So I have to assume that he has a hand that he wants to risk half and possibly all his stack with.  So I decide to fold 99 with small stack in bb and thinking that he was ready to go all in so a call of 800 more, so if I just call, small stack raises all in then initial raiser reraises all in I have to fold and I just wasted 250 in chips without seeing the flop.  One of the things I don't want to do right now is get rid of my big stack and give chips away for free.  Also I am not calling two allins for 2/3 of my chips with 99 if small stack goes allin and other guy reraises, when I think initial raiser loves his hand.

PokerStars Game #2989612352: Tournament #14762780, Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2005/11/06 - 16:24:43 (ET)
Table '14762780 1' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: SHERIBR (3185 in chips)
Seat 2: pegrn (940 in chips)
Seat 3: eastharbor (670 in chips)
Seat 5: JBiver (2350 in chips)
Seat 7: oscareyes (1940 in chips)
Seat 8: wrongshui (1450 in chips)
Seat 9: BubbaR (2965 in chips)
JBiver: posts small blind 50
oscareyes: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SHERIBR [3d As]
wrongshui: folds
BubbaR: folds
SHERIBR: raises 250 to 350
pegrn: folds
eastharbor: folds
JBiver: folds
oscareyes: folds
SHERIBR collected 250 from pot
SHERIBR: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 250 | Rake 0
Seat 1: SHERIBR collected (250)
Seat 2: pegrn folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: eastharbor (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: JBiver (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: oscareyes (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: wrongshui folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: BubbaR folded before Flop (didn't bet)

This is the very next hand.  I decide to attack the person who just raised, from utg.  I am the first one to come into the pot and still have alot of chips, would not have had if I called off last hand with 99, so I gain 150 without showing my hand and save a min of 250 the last hand for a min gain in chips of 400 from folding and being aggressive.

The way you should play especially, late in tourney's, is very aggressive, but you also have to understand what your table image and how people are trying to play you.  Just because you raise or reraise without a hand does not mean that you are committed to this hand.  I think alot of this comes from watching poker on tv and people see the allin fest that is tv and think that is the way to play, they seem to miss the times all the blind steals go on and the times blind steals go bad and people have to fold their blinds steal.  Just because you raise preflop and mis the flop and then your continuation bet gets called you do not need to lose all your chips, this happens most of the time with AK.  Also if you have QQ or KK and person calls your preflop raise and A hits and you get bet at or reraised on flop don't just say I got unlucky fold your KK or QQ and battle back.  Eat your ego and fold your under pair.

So let's say throughout this tourney we have been aggressive and especially when the blinds got bigger, what alot of your oppenents are going to do is try and slow play you and trap.  You have to very cautious of this and be able to fold to save chips.  I was in a sng with 5 players left and all of them super tight.  I was raising about 1/2 the time and knew that someone would smooth call me and try and trap me.  The amount of chips I got from stealing these people blinds meant I was clearly the chip leader, but if I got involved in a big pot with a few of them I could become a mortal again, thus losing my blind stealing power.  So I raise in 2nd pos with J10, guy next to me just calls, other players fold.  I think I have about 7k in chips he has about 3500 on the flop.  THe blind where 75/150, my raise was 450, so 900 in the pot.  the flop comes 2J9.  I am first to act and decide to bet out 800 on the flop, this guy reraises me all in to 3500.  I think and think and decide to fold and still ahve 6200 in chips and the chip lead.  I figure in this hand I have to be killed, he decides to show AJ and I was.  So in two more rounds I have regained all my chips I lost this play from just stealing blinds.

Everyone online is bluffing if he reraises me or goes all in he must be bluffing, I thought this when I first got online and it cost me alot of money.  The majority of time people online are not bluffing and they are just betting their hands, and if they are bluffing who cares they made a nice play and won that pot.  Don't let the fact they bluffed you and outplayed you in this one pot effect the way you play from here on out.

I also am not saying that you should fold your hand everytime one of these things I mentioned occurs. This is where experience comes, oppenents reads and their style.  There are times when you have to gamble, that is if the players are better than you, you have no chips and need chips.  Neither of those should be true and if you have no chips that is because you got bad beat or cards are dead, cause you have to think you are the best player at the table.

There are way to many pots during a tourney that are free and can be won uncontested to risk your money on coin flips and pots you are uncertain in.  Don't give up that big stack, no need to race with meduim or even stacks.  Push the low stacks and get in coin flips with them cause it will not hurt you as much and you can steal the amount back from the blinds.