Low-stakes tournaments and home games are full of players who don’t want to fold. This may not seem like a good thing when your aces are beating 7-20, but it’s actually a huge advantage. Alex Fitzgerald’s new book, “How to Beat Players Who Never Fold: Success in Casino Tournaments and Low-Stakes Games,” explains why this is trueβand how to beat such opponents.
Folding Separates the Pros
Folding (or passing) in poker is the voluntary withdrawal of a hand. By folding, a player can no longer claim the pot, but they also avoid the risk of adding additional chips to the game.
What truly separates pros from ordinary players is their ability to fold well and effectively.
A pro might fold a small flush if they believe (based on a convincing and correct play by their opponent) that their opponent has a better flush. The average player, on the other hand, isn’t capable of such a complex decision.
Most people make decisions based on the strength of their hand because they love shortcuts (keyboard shortcuts that allow them to quickly perform actions that normally require a mouse). They notice that hands like two pair, sets, flushes, and straights don’t come along very often. They automatically assume that if they’ve been waiting long enough for such a hand, it must be valuable and winning. So they play until the end and don’t fold at the right moments, losing a lot of blinds in the process..
Because of this, most players aren’t willing to fold when they’ve made at least two pair. In fact, many don’t even want to fold with one pair!!! It’s more fun to play poker that way =))
You can always spot a professional at the table by their willingness to fold. When they enter a pot, they don’t act like losing it will ruin their entire day. It’s just part of the routine for them.
Many nits also wait a long time for a good hand, but that doesn’t mean they enjoy folding. They hate waiting, like everyone else. But they hate losing even more. That’s why when such players enter a pot, they become aggressive if they lose to a stronger hand.
Pros don’t behave like that. They wait for the right moment. If it takes a couple of hours, they won’t be happy about it, but they can handle it. They know that forcing things can lead to disaster. So they wait for the right moment, rather than trying to create it.
Pros often raise preflop, get called, and then simply check and fold on a bad board. They understand that a continuation bet will be useless in most cases. When they see a certain board, they understand that their opponent likely hit it with their specific range. They’re not going to put extra chips into the pot. They understand that it’s important not only to win pots but also to preserve their chips.
Regular players don’t think this way. Nits, station players, maniacs, and regulars see giving up on a pot as a sign of weakness. They believe that since they raised preflop, everyone owes them respect. They don’t perceive reality as it is. Deep down, they know their opponent likely hit a coordinated board and isn’t going to give up, but they refuse to acknowledge this and are hoping for something they don’t know. This is the sign of an amateur. A professional controls their emotions and actions and doesn’t tilt (with very rare exceptions). They may also feel “right!” but ignore it and make the right move.
And the right move is to fold. And the right move is to fold often. If you’re playing at a nine-player table, you’re always up against eight people. Eight random hands will almost always beat one random hand. Sometimes you might not win for hours. But if you wait for the right situation, you’ll reap all the rewards.
Imagine a street fight where eight people are attacking one. The right move for one person in that situation is to run away!
You’re in a similar situation. Your job is almost always to run away. You only return to fighting against eight opponents when you find a “weapon” in the form of a strong starting hand. But if that hand becomes weak on the flop, your job is to run away again.
You can’t win if you bust right away. You can’t win if you constantly “push” those eight players. You need to play one hand at a time. You can’t rush too much.
People want to play poker for the same reason they check their phones every thirty seconds. People get bored easily. They need something to keep them from getting bored. Playing a hand is fun. Folding is boring. Because of this, we naturally play more hands than we should. We’re inclined to play because boredom is unpleasant.
What does this mean, guys? We should be suspicious of ourselves when we want to play a mediocre hand. Do we truly believe we’ve found a profitable situation, a good position, or are we just bored?
Stationers, maniacs, nits, and regulars can’t resist the temptation.
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