When Can You Fold In Poker
If a player folds before the betting is complete, he may certainly ask to see a hand, but that player may simply refuse. If one or more players remain after all betting is complete, then all hands must be shown on request, though even there it is common for players to be extended the courtesy of being allowed to fold without showing. A fold equity calculator is a powerful tool that you can use to see how often your opponent must fold when you are shoving your stack. Before you go all-in with your next semi-bluff, or go all-in preflop with a bluff, use this tool to make sure your play is +EV! Welcome to the poker push or fold calculator.This calculator is designed for full ring tournament poker players. Under 20 big blinds, depending on your hand, your position at the table, the ante percentage of big blind and your number of big blinds, the calculator tells you whether it is better to push or fold your hand to get nash equilibrium (as long as no one has raised before you).
It’s a weekend and you and a friend or family member are wondering if you can play a game of poker with just the 2 of you. I have been playing for over 10 years and can give you a definitive answer.
Push/Fold is a common strategy used in tournaments in which you either go all-in preflop or fold. Push/fold should be utilized when your stack becomes short — around 15 big blinds (bb) or fewer. There are a ton of different push/fold charts available, but we will be using the program that those charts get their data from — ICMIZER. Yes, you should fold pocket kings preflop on a few rare occasions with 100 big blind stack sizes in a full ring poker game versus a 4Bet when all of the action is in early position. In a 6max poker game you should never fold pocket kings preflop for 100 big blinds.
Can you play poker with 2 players? Poker can be played with only two players. It is called heads-up. Here are the two player rules:
- The dealer is the small blind and the other player posts the big blind. Players take turns being the dealer.
- The first card is dealt
to the player in the big blind. - The Dealer goes first before the flop and the Big Blind goes first after the flop.
Let’s cover a few more common questions that players typically have about 2 player poker in greater detail.
What Are the 2 Player Poker Rules?
Now that you are set up to play, let’s cover how to play 2 player poker. Here are the basic rules that you will need to know in order to play your game.
You may want to keep this page open in your browser in case questions come up during play.
1. How do the blinds work in 2 player poker?
How the blinds work is probably the most confusing thing in heads-up poker. However, once you get the hang of it it’s not that difficult to remember since there are only a couple of differences between 6-max or full-ring rules.
Who Is the Big Blind Who Is the Small Blind in Heads-Up Poker?
This is the most common question I get about 2 player poker
How Do We Determine Who Gets the Button First at the Start of the Game?
The easiest and most fair way to determine who gets to be dealer first is for each player to draw a card from the deck. The high card gets to deal first.
2. How Are the Cards Dealt in 2 Player Poker?
Which Blind Gets Dealt to First Before the Flop?
The big blind gets the first card and the dealer gets the second card in heads-up play. The easy way to remember this is that the dealer never deals to his or her self first.
Can the Same Person Deal Every Hand?
It’s true that sometimes one person is better at dealing. In this case, it’s okay for the same person to
Just make sure that you move the dealer button each hand. It would be highly unfair if the same person had to play the big blind every single hand!
3. Who Goes First When Only Two Players Are Playing?
I remember walking up to observe the heads-up match between two friends in pub poker. I quickly realized that they were following the opposite order of play that they were supposed to.
I did not want to embarrass them so I kept quiet. It was apparent everyone else didn’t want to as well since none of the 10-15 observers said anything!
Who Goes First Before the Flop?
Pre-flop, the dealer always acts first in 2 player poker.
This rule is exactly the same as pre-flop however, it is easy to get wrong for inexperienced players. The easy way to remember it is that the big blind player acts last before the flop in 6 or 9-handed games, and it makes
Who Goes First After the Flop in Heads-Up?
When Can You Fold In Poker Tournaments
This rule is also exactly the same for normal poker games. The dealer gets to always go last on the flop.
The biggest perk of playing on the dealer button is that you get to act last and have more information than your opponents. This is especially powerful in heads-up since the big blind can never act last.
What If the Dealer Open Folds in 2 Player Games?
When the Dealer decides to not play his or her hand before the flop, the small blind is relinquished to the player in the big blind. The dealer button then moves and the next hand begins.
Is it better to play Heads-Up, Cash Games or Tournaments?
Deciding what format to play in 2 player poker all comes down to personal preference. Each type of game has its perks.
Why Play Heads-up Cash Games?
There are a couple of reasons people might choose cash games over tournaments:
- Blinds Do Not Rise – Perhaps the biggest benefit of 2 person cash games is that you don’t have to worry about the blinds going up like they do in tournaments. You don’t need a special tournament clock, you can just choose your stake level and play indefinitely without having to adjust your style to the rising blinds.
- You Don’t Need Poker Chips – In tournaments, you really need to use poker chips that you can “color up” as the game goes on. That means to add higher value chips to compensate for the bigger stakes. Instead, you can use real coins or even paper money to play cash games.
- Cash Games Take More Skill – If you really want to practice and improve at poker, then the best way is through cash games. Once the blinds rise in tournaments, the game becomes more and more about who is the luckiest person.
Why Play Heads-up Tournaments?
Even though I am a cash game specialist, when I play heads-up I actually prefer tournaments. Here is why:
- There Are Logical End Points – While cash games drag on and on, a tournament always ends up with one person having all the chips. You can then decide whether to start anew or call it a night. So, if you want to play best of 3 or best of 5, you have a better idea of when the night will end and can plan for it. For this reason, it’s also a great format for hosting a home poker tournament with multiple players.
- Tournaments Tend to Be Much More Exciting – There’s nothing more fun in poker than getting to the shove-fold phase of a tournament or sit and go. Chips change hands rapidly and anyone can win at that point. Who doesn’t love a race for all the chips?
- The Games Are Usually More Fun for Beginners – Many people that get into poker are used to watching the World Poker Tour or the World Series of Poker. Therefore, tournaments are what they are familiar with and likely to understand better.
If you don’t have poker chips, there are likely plenty of poker chip substitutes lying around the house or office.
A Fun Alternative Format: Play Short-Stacked Cash Games
Another idea is to mix both a tournament and cash game feel by playing short stacked cash games
The way it works is that each player starts with 20, 30, or 40 big blinds and then play cash games. The blinds do not rise, but there is still plenty of heavy pre-flop action with lots of reraise shoving
Post-flop also plays a lot easier as a short stack. Top pair is an easy hand to get all-in with when short whereas it can be difficult to play when deed-stacked.
What Is the Best 2 Player Poker Strategy?
The biggest adjustment when playing heads-up poker is that marginal hands go way up in value. 3rd pair or even high card Ace can often win at showdown.
So, loosen up and don’t let your opponent run you over if he or she bets a lot! Conversely, you should bet often when you have any piece of the board or a credible bluff. There is a good chance your opponent might fold a better hand or pay you off with a worse hand.
What 2 Player Games Can We Play Besides Texas Hold’Em?
If you are tired of heads-up No-Limit Hold’em and want to mix in another game occasionally, there are several good options:
- Pot Limit Omaha: In PLO, the heads-up rules are exactly the same as Hold’em except that both players get four hold cards. You also have to use both cards at showdown. Having one Diamond in your hand does not make a flush on a four Diamond board in PLO.
- 5-Card Draw: This is the traditional “old-fashioned” game that most people used to learn poker before No-Limit Hold-em became the dominant game. Both players have a designated ante that they pay before the cards are dealt. Then, you simply deal out 5 cards to each heads-up player. Instead of having a flop, turn, and
river there is instead two betting rounds. Once when you get your initial cards and then after adiscard round. You may discard up to 3 cards (4 if you have an Ace) and get those cards replaced by the dealer. There is then another betting round and then the cards are shown and a dealer determined. You can, of course, fold any time during the hand and only lose the money you have invested up to that point. - 7-Card Stud: This game is similar to draw except that you start with two cards down and one card up. There is then a betting round.
Afterward , another card is turned up one by one with a betting round happening in between. Once both heads-up players each have 7 cards, the dealing is complete and showdown can be reached.
Accessories to Make Matches Even Better
If you want to make your games more classy, then I recommend picking up quality accessories. I wrote recommendation articles for each category, just click the links to learn more:
- Playing Cards– My personal favorite is Copag, what’s yours?
- Poker Chips– I prefer a higher-end set, but there are plenty of good budget poker chip sets available as well.
- Poker Table– I like roll up poker table mats for ease of storage, but that’s just me.
Final Thoughts
Playing heads-up only happens in tournaments if you are the last two players left in the field. However, 2 player poker is something you can do for fun either as a cash game or tournament at home.
If you want to read more about heads-up poker, I wrote a detailed article on the heads-up poker rules for Texas Hold’em. Thanks for stopping by!
Related Questions
Do you have to use both cards in Hold’em? In order to make your best 5-card hand in Hold’em, you can either use both cards or just one.
Is Ace high or low in poker? In Poker, an Ace can usually either be the highest card or the lowest. It can make the highest straight of TJQKA and the lowest straight, often called the wheel, of A2345.
Do you have to match the big blind is poker? In order to qualify to see the flop, you must at least match the amount of the blind.
We are led to believe by TV commentators that knowing when to fold because their opponent is holding the nuts is some innate ability that only a few people possess. There are also superstitious players out there that think others can “read souls.” This is all a bunch of hogwash.
Knowing when to fold in poker is about understanding expected value (EV). Over the long term, if calling or raising loses more money than folding does, then the correct play is to muck your hand.
As you study and learn more and more about ranges you will know that making correct folds does not take clairvoyance. All it takes is observation and a good perception of how your opponent’s ranges and actions tell a story. Once you factor in the table dynamic, you can think more accurately decide if folding is the best action. While learning these advanced concepts, you can follow a few rules and avoid a few common pitfalls where people commonly make -EV decisions.
Here are 6 common scenarios to look out for.
1. Your Preflop Hand Is Trash
This may seem obvious to poker players with a lot of experience. However, I feel it is worth including in this list since I still see people showing up with junk hands that are glaringly unprofitable to play.
Stick to a Solid Opening Range
A good rule of thumb is that if you are not in late position (seated on the Cutoff or later) then you should probably be sticking to a fairly tight opening range. In fact, most players would see a significant uptick in their win-rate if they stuck to the following range or even slightly tighter when seated in early or middle position:
By sticking to hands that are weighted heavily on the high card and suited end of the spectrum, post-flop decisions will become a lot more straightforward. It’s when you start adding in trash like KTo to a non-stealing range that you get in big trouble way too often.
Stop Calling 3-Bets with Junk
You should have a very selective range for calling an opponent’s 3-bet. In fact, the less post-flop skill you have the tighter you should be. Your 3-bet flatting range might look something like this:
This range includes hands that can flop monster hands and draws and avoid a lot of reverse implied odds situations. In other words, you will find yourself being dominated a lot less by calling with a disciplined range like this. Once you gain experience and start mixing in some 4-bet bluffs, you will become a pain in the butt to 3-bet against.
Stop Flat-Calling Rubbish in the Blinds
Calling in the blinds violates all three of my poker fundamentals. Once the flop comes down you will be out of position without initiative and unable to easily apply pressure to your opponent.
It takes a ton of skill to be able to profit from flat-calling in the blinds with a wide range. You need to understand your opponent and have some sort of post-flop plan before you click that call button. For most players, you are much better off sticking to a 3-bet or fold mentality when seated in the blinds. This is especially true in the small blind.
2. You Are Priced out of Your Draw
Sorry, I know this one seems obvious. But I still see this constantly happening on my tables even today.
The issue isn’t that people don’t know about the direct odds of a draw. It’s that they are overly optimistic when it comes to implied odds. As a result, they consistently fall victim to reverse implied odds.
Considering Reverse Implied Odds
Reverse implied odds means that you make a call attempting to hit one of your “outs” but when you do, it either makes your opponent an even better hand at the same time or he or she may have already had a better hand to begin with. Think paired boards.
Here are a few examples of holdings that are susceptible to reverse implied odds:
- Dummy end straights
- Low flush draws
- Flush or straight draws on paired boards
- Straight draws on two-tone boards
- Overcards
Before deciding whether to call a raise with your draw, you need to check to see if any of your outs are dirty. In other words, how many of the potential out cards might make your opponent a better hand.
For example, you hold an open-ended straight draw on a two-tone flop. Normally, you would have 8 outs. However, in this case, 2 of the outs will complete a flush and potentially complete a better draw for your opponents. Therefore, you only have 6 “clean” outs.
Another thing that can drastically reduce your odds is your position.
Holding a Draw When You Don’t Close the Action
Even if you have a good price and hold a hand with a lot of “non-dirty” implied odds, if you face a raise or reraise and are not closing the action, the profitability of making a call with a drawing hand goes way down in value. This is because the player or players behind you can put in another raise and force you to fold away your investment in the pot.
A good rule of thumb is to consider at your opponent who has yet to act behind you. If they are passive or a bad player, then you should tend to make the implied odds call. If they are a reg (especially an aggressive one) then just err on the side of folding without an enormously good price.
The main theme here is that when figuring out your odds and implied odds make sure you are not overplaying your equity. Often, you may find that your situation is not as good as it appears to be at first glance and maybe you should just fold.
3. You Hold Less Than the Nuts and Your Opponent Is Ultra-Tight
If your opponent’s range is unbalanced toward value and you hold a marginal hand, the vast majority of the time you should probably just pitch it and move on.
Just keep in mind that your implied odds will also generally be through the roof versus these players so you can fudge your requirements with draws against them. This is especially true with draws that would be really well-disguised were you to complete it.
Moral of the story: Made hands go down in value while draws go up in value in situations where you are up against a strong range.
For example, take a T32 rainbow board. Let’s say you c-bet and get raised by a tight nitty player in the blinds with a fold to c-bet of 80% and a raise flop c-bet of 3%. Let’s consider which parts of your range you should continue with and which you should fold.
Let’s say you are in the Cutoff and this was your opening range:
Now, let’s say this was your continuation bet range:
Which hands should you continue with against an ultra-tight opponent? Of course, you will want to not fold your very strongest hands like 22, 33, and TT. But let’s see what your equity is in this spot with all of your top pair and overpair hands that bet.
Oops. It looks like you are crushed with just about every hand in your range. In fact, only AA is profitable to continue with in this spot.
Of course, I was generous in the range I gave our opponent and included QQ+ in his range that he may have slowplayed pre-flop. And, there’s no guarantee of that. It is likely that a really tight player will always 3-bet at least KK and AA.
Now, let’s give our opponent the same range and look at how the gutshot straight draws in your range fair.
In this case, having nothing but an inside straight draw actually gives you more equity than your non-nut made hands versus a tight player. Of course, 22% equity isn’t something to write home about.
However, if you actually make your hand on the turn or river it will be very disguised. You are almost certain to get the rest of your opponent’s stack. Therefore, due to implied odds, you should always call a normal-sized raise with this part of your range.
Moral of the story: If you have less than 2-pair on the flop or hold a high implied odds hand, you should just fold versus the raise of an ultra-tight player.
Now that we know about when to fold against a tight player, what if you have the same type of image? Does this affect your folding strategy? Let’s take a look.
4. You Have a Tight Image
This is getting a little next level. But imagine you have sat down at a table and played a few revolutions. The poker gods have not been kind and you have been dealt absolute rubbish for 3 hours. Your VPIP is more than half what it normally is and you quickly realize that you look like a complete rock.
Let’s say a similar setup occurs that we faced versus the tight player in #4. You open and then get check-raised by an opponent you have no long-term history with. Except for this time, he is far from tight.
This opponent is obviously a competent loose-aggressive player who folds to c-bet 40% and check-raises 20% of the time. It seems obvious that we should be tightening up our c-bet range and then folding almost no made hands in this spot, right?
Wrong.
Remember, all this player knows about you is that this is one of the only hands you have open-raised this session. Therefore, you can expect him to adjust versus your “tightness” and probably play very differently versus you than his stats might indicate.
On the other hand, he is still a loose player and isn’t likely to be as tight as the other guy. Therefore, you should not fold as much of your range as versus the proven tight player but you should also not just slam dunk get it in with your top pairs. A much better strategy is to go into “bluff-catch mode” with your strongest hands: sets, overpairs, top pair top kicker, and your high implied odds hands. Then, just call down with them.
However, go ahead and fold your weak top pairs. While it might be painful versus this type of opponent, it is still the correct play based on your image.
5. You Have a Strong Hand but Worse Is Unlikely to Raise
Getting involved with these seemingly strong hands that are actually very marginal or losers is a much more common scenario and thus the source consistent bleeding.
Let’s say you hold a really strong hand but not the nuts. Your opponent is tight and you get reraised. These can be some of the most agonizing situations. However, if you just look at your opponent’s perceived range it becomes a lot easier.
Pre-Flop Versus a 3-bet
You open QQ in early position and then get 3-bet by a guy who has only 3-bet someone once in his last 100 opportunities. You suspect that he is only 3-betting with QQ+, and you are not even sure he would with QQ. As crazy as this sounds, you should never 4-bet in this spot and only set mine if you have a good price to do so.
4-bet Situations
Generally, a 4-bet is almost always the same type of situation as our 3-betting example. Let’s look at a hand history.
No-Limit Hold’em, $0.50 BB (6 handed)
UTG ($47)
MP ($72.10)
CO ($66.42) Opens 20% from cutoff
Button ($51.37 3% 3-bet
SB ($92.59) 4% 3-betting TAG regular
Hero (BB) ($12.12)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Q♥, Q♠
2 folds, CO bets $1.34, Button raises to $4.18, SB raises to $92.59 (All-In), 3 folds
Wow, look at that action. The 4-bettors range here is QQ+ and AK (At worst). We have 40% equity against that range. Not good enough since we only have a big blind involved. This should be a snap fold, even for a short stack. Crazy, no?
This is an extreme example, but you will face many tough decisions with hands such as 99, TT, AQ, and even AK sometimes. Being able to spot a marginal all-in decision is not so much a talent as simply having a knowledge of ranges. With that in mind, let’s look at a common post-flop scenario.
It’s a River Raise and You Don’t Hold the Nuts
Turn raises are usually the nuts, river raises are almost always the nuts. This is something I heard from Blackrain many many years ago. Even today, it still is generally true in the vast majority of poker games.
Poker Hands To Always Fold
Understanding when strong hands are 2nd best is an ability born from a study of ranges and relative hand strengths. As Kenny Rogers said, you gotta “know when to hold’em and know when to fold’em.” But even if you figure out that you are beating absolutely nothing on the river when facing aggression, and you know that your opponent’s betting pattern screams monster, it is sometimes still very difficult to find the fold button.
Think about all of the times you have called with one pair after getting raised on the river. How many times did you actually win? Be honest here. Depending on your experience, you can probably count the number of times on one hand.
Being able to bluff raise a river is a skill that very very very few players possess. And since very few people fold big hands to river raises, in most games it is a skill that you really need not acquire. Here is a classic example of beating nothing on the river but calling with a seemingly strong hand anyway.
Example #1: Trips no good
No-Limit Hold’em, $0.50 BB (5 handed)
UTG ($50.81)
MP ($28.50)
Button ($30.60)
SB ($25.23)
Hero (BB) ($16.75)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Q♠, 7♦
3 folds, SB calls $0.25, Hero checks
Small blind is a passive calling station. There was no point in raising pre-flop since he is never folding, and shoving seems silly since he will probably limp-call a fairly wide range.
Flop: ($1) Q♦, 3♠, 9♦(2 players)
SB bets $1, Hero calls $1
We flop the nuts against the station and plan to go for three streets of value.
Turn: ($3) Q♥(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2, SB calls $2
A good river card in the sense that he will be more likely to stick around with a 3 or 9 in his hand and it makes it less likely that he has a queen. Also, there are plenty draws which make value betting here is a must.
River: ($7) K♣(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3.50, SB raises to $17.50, Hero calls $9.75 (All-In)
We try to get value from the weaker pairs in his range and boom, we get check-raised all-in. The only hands that he would raise for value are full houses, trip queens, and a straight. Since it is unlikely he has a queen, then 33, 99, and JT are most obvious. And since calling stations are passive players by nature, a bluff raise seems out of the question. So taking all factors into account and the fact that we are, at best, only tying if he has a queen, this is an obvious fold. But like most players, I was married to my hand and called the raise.
Total pot: $33.50 Rake: $1.65
Results:
SB had 10♦, J♦ (straight, King high).
Hero had Q♠, 7♦ (three of a kind, Queens).
Outcome: SB won $31.85
Our opponent flopped an open-ended straight flush draw and did not raise the flop, thus confirming our read that he is a passive player. It’s hard to think of trips as a bluff catcher with no flush possible, but in this case, that’s all it was.
The only time you should ever call in this type of spot is if you can legitimately count at least 2-3 hands that might raise that you beat, you probably should call. Give your opponent a range and narrow it based on your read and his action, and stick to it.
Ultimately, bad river calls may seem like a huge leak since you lose a lot of money at once when it happens. But making the 2nd best nut hand and getting raised on the river is not something that happens very often. So while it’s a leak, it’s not really going to destroy your long term bottom line. It’s just one piece of the overall puzzle. If you’re getting this wrong, you’re probably leaking in a lot of other areas as well.
6. You Have a Tell on Your Opponent
This is actually the least reliable thing to go, but it can help in on the fence decisions.
Live Tells
In live games here are several tells you can use to tell if your opponent is strong. Here are 3 tells that indicate strength:
- Your opponent is making an obvious effort to feign weakness- It’s probably best to get rid of the 2nd or third nuts.
- He is trying to act relaxed or appears genuinely relaxed- He might order a drink or engage in conversation with another player. It is highly unlikely someone doing this is bluffing.
- Shaking Hands- While this might seem to be more of a sign of weakness, it usually actually means they are really excited about their hand.
Online Tells
You might think there is no such thing as an online tell. Think again. Through experience, I have found a few common moves to be reliable indicators of an opponent’s strength.
- Tanking before raising- This one almost always indicates the nuts. I actually learned this from watching over my dad’s shoulder. Anytime he would hold a really strong hand he would say something like, “Now, I’ll take a long time here to make him think I’m weak…” Then he would spring a raise on his opponent. So, when you see someone use up nearly all of their timebank and then reraise, you can be fairly certain they are trying to pretend to be indecisive. Nice try buddy.
- The massive river overbet- If someone is bluffing on the river, more often than not they will try to bet the minimum that they think will be successful. Usually, when you see a big overbet it’s not an attempt to “blow you off your hand.” In my experience, this is usually what I call a “make up bet.” In other words, they are mad that the pot is not any bigger than it already is and they are trying to make up for that fact by artificially bloating the pot on the turn or river.
If you think your call is marginal and your opponent gives away any of these common tells, you will likely want to fold your hand with a quickness.
Final Thoughts
It can be difficult to know for sure whether a fold is the best course of action or not. However, if you just follow these few “rules” that I have laid out, you really can’t go wrong.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that part of the art of being a skilled poker player is setting yourself up for straightforward decisions while at the same time creating difficult spots for your opponents. The easier your decisions are, the more likely it is that you are going to make good decisions. And this all starts with pre-flop planning.
To help improve how well you plan your hands, check out this article that I wrote a while back. I hope it puts you on a path to even more profit at the tables.