Folding is OK

[CDNMAN 42]

I have finally realized that folding strong hands is sometimes ok depending on circumstances. The following three examples from two different tournament while may have been questionable folds did get me to the final table. Although I would;d've won the third example had I not folded.
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/1254t7QJR
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/2254ulkxx
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/1254t9IhC

 

[mina271]

It's not always easy to fold but if you decide to fold then it shouldn't matter if the hand won or not. In any case, that's how I do it. If I thought that one hand was good enough to play then it wouldn't have folded. That's why I'm not interested in anything that happens after folding. But it's nice that you've made it to the F inal table and wish you continued success and many more final tables

 

[fundiver199]

The folds with AK and JJ preflop are very tight, but making a tight fold near the bubble can be ok, if its important for you to min-cash, and you are willing to sacrifice some of your chance to reach top 3. For me personally I am ok being the bubble boy, and I am never folding in either of these spots. The fold with QQ on AKX board is fine.

 

[Risto234]

Folding is only ok if you dont give 2 cents about the game -.-

 

[fundiver199]

Folding is only ok if you dont give 2 cents about the game -.-

The AK hand is much closer, than you might think. Presumably this is the final table of a 45 man SnG, where 7 places pay, so we are near the bubble. And while ICMizer does have AK as a call, AQ and TT are folds. UTG is supposed to be shipping AJ+ and all suited aces. And if he is not doing that, AK could actually be a fold.

 

[MattRyder]

I have finally realized that folding strong hands is sometimes ok depending on circumstances. The following three examples from two different tournament while may have been questionable folds did get me to the final table. Although I would;d've won the third example had I not folded.
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/1254t7QJR
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/2254ulkxx
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/1254t9IhC

I agree completely re: folding strong hands. While you do get the “I’m headed to the top three come hell or high water” crowd the vast majority of players near the bubble are pretty darn tight! I’ve seen LOTS of folks go from last place to the top three AFTER squeaking by the bubble.

 

[CDNMAN 42]

Thanks all for the input, just have to keep slugging. lol

 

[Matt_Burns88]

I think the AK fold is marginal here; if you have any kind of read on your opponent that he is shoving tighter than he should, then it goes from marginal to a definite fold.
You have to call with JJ in this spot when the short stack shoves here. He's shoving a very wide range, even with a raise and two calls. I would just be shoving over the top here to try to get the callers to fold. Sure sometimes you go broke, but the vast majority of the time you have the best of it in this spot.
Ah, what a flop for QQ! I think you play this absolutely fine. AKx smashes your range, so you should be c-betting very frequently here, but you don't want to get married to your hand if the opponent gets sticky. Well played.

 

[fundiver199]

I think the AK fold is marginal here; if you have any kind of read on your opponent that he is shoving tighter than he should, then it goes from marginal to a definite fold.
You have to call with JJ in this spot when the short stack shoves here. He's shoving a very wide range, even with a raise and two calls. I would just be shoving over the top here to try to get the callers to fold. Sure sometimes you go broke, but the vast majority of the time you have the best of it in this spot.

Yeah I agree. The AK fold is marginal but can be ok, if we think, the Villain is not shipping light with 12,5BB UTG on the bubble. The issue with calling here with any hand is, that if we lose, we are by far the shortest stack and very likely to not make it into the money. But the JJ hand is different, because even if we lose to the guy jamming, its only a third of our stack, so we are under much less ICM-pressure. Moreover we put in chips already, and there is a lot of dead chips from the two field callers, so we are getting a great price, whereas in the AK hand we were not yet involved in the action. Sure we were deeper against the field callers in the JJ hand, but its very rare, they have "trapped" with QQ+, so its not something to worry about. Most of the time, if we overjam, they go away, and once in a while we might even get called by a hand, we dominate, like the 99.

 

[Kennemelo]

Thanks all for the input, just have to keep slugging. lol

No fear no fold only hardcore!

 

[pocketace222]

I have finally realized that folding strong hands is sometimes ok depending on circumstances. The following three examples from two different tournament while may have been questionable folds did get me to the final table. Although I would;d've won the third example had I not folded.
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/1254t7QJR
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/2254ulkxx
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/1254t9IhC

If you've ever watched the pros they lay down some monster hands because they know the only option here is they got it or nothing but the odds say the opponent isn't doing that with nothing. Learn to make a few big lay downs and see how far you can go in this wonderful game

 

[BetterThanAvgButNotByMuch]

That's how you play AK in that spot.

The QQ hand was good with the 2 overs and the draw. The Cbet would be off your read of their range though. The problem there is when you cbet are they calling because they expect a cbet from you and they'll call and bet if they see any weakness on the latter streets or are they a joker and try to take it away from you with some silly bluff? The other thing with a cbet there is you have show down value with the Qs so are they passive and perhaps check it down or try to value bet you what you cbet on the river? They might have charged you what you cbet bet there is my point. But that's a nasty board for your hand and did well t bail without getting silly.

The JJ hand was killer. Forget about the outcome. Hopefully you recognized the theme of that hand as really being about position. You're first to act, raise it, get one caller then the BB? goes over the top but you have another big stack after you that if they're slow playing something nasty then you're going to be in trouble and giving up a nice chunk of your chips against them when you'd be better off in late position and see what happens before calling off the BBs bet (for about 1/3 of your chips) then face another raise for about another 1/3 or so of your chips if the caller shoves while usually being crushed or a coin flip.

Anyway, nice hands. Keep it up!!!!

 

[Tigroslav]

only the QQ fold was justified
the other two should have gone all in 100%

 

[ADRI7HO]

The AK is this situation for me to call or to fold, it depends on the opponent's game so far.
The QQ pair had no questions about fold, because in a $ 1 tournament on the table A,K,2 and the way the opponent played the hand (although I don't know how he played before) had a good chance that Ax, Kx could have it.
JJ is like AK if I have preflop all-in when I call, there are when I fold, but it also depends on my opponents what I've seen from them so far.

 

[jordanbillie]

I have finally realized that folding strong hands is sometimes ok depending on circumstances. The following three examples from two different tournament while may have been questionable folds did get me to the final table. Although I would;d've won the third example had I not folded.
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/1254t7QJR
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/2254ulkxx
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/1254t9IhC

For what it's worth, I would have played all three of these hands differently.

The AK hand has to be a snap overjam, why are you folding AK to an open 10BB jam? I don't know about you, but I jam 10BBs UTG as wide as 10 8 suited, so AK has to get it in here.

The JJ hand also needs to get it in pre. I'm really not sure why you are folding here.

The QQ hand...I would have insta checked that flop. Your flop bet is practically a bluff, which is apparent with how you simply shut down after being called. You'd be much better check/calling that flop (or check/folding depending on sizing) than leading.

 

[VGShaa]

There is nothing to shame throw a strong hand into a pass on a bad board with uncomfortable opponents. If you're not sure about your hand, keep the stack and just throw off your hand.

 

[Gallarado777]

in your hand you have a pair of aces on the table three jacks what will happen?

 

[Holdem Tycoon]

I have finally realized that folding strong hands is sometimes ok depending on circumstances. The following three examples from two different tournament while may have been questionable folds did get me to the final table. Although I would;d've won the third example had I not folded.
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/1254t7QJR
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/2254ulkxx
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/1254t9IhC

Great post

 

[makisaa]

When you don' t feel ok about a hand you can fold it, whatever it is! Here you folded AK, without an obvious for us reason!

 

[MAGICUZ]

I understood everything with QQ, but I didn’t understand the other two handsHow to fold AK-JJ in dollar tournament?!If you fold such hands, then why even play poker

 

[edenman1]

I heard some great advice once, there's no shame in folding

 

[rastapapolos]

Here is my toughts:
For the first hand, you have 1.18:1 which is around 45% and with AK your equity is 45% vs pocket pairs and you are underdog vs AA, or KK, and you dominate all his Ax. One more thing to consider is the ICM, I don't know if you are ITM, near the bubble, or final table bubble so these factors will impact our decision.
(I can play it either way, by folding or calling)
In the second hand it's a clear fold, on such a board they have As and Ks in their calling range.
With JJ, when you open and there is 2 callers it's good for us, we have the best hand, because they will raise with AA, KK, AKs. BB shoves 8 bigs, he can hold any suited A, Broadway hand, small pocket pairs...etc we are ahead of his range. Calculating our odds, the pot when he jam is 5631 and we have to add 2200 to just call so we are getting 2.55:1 which is 28%, and we have more than that 55% vs AK and we crush all his Ax, low and medium pocket pairs, so it's a clear call. But with 2 players behind to act, the correct play is to shove, as we dominate their stacks and we as UTG show a lot of force by jaming.

 

[Tomek416]

I have a problem with folding a two-pair and I often get eliminated by a three-of-a-kind.

 

[mircea_0]

Folding is the best way to advance as much as possible in a tournament!
As long as the odds are below 80% in one hand, folding is the right choice!

 

[Madalin Poke]

Throwing away strong hands can be difficult but if you think seriously about it and take all the possibilities under consideration it can be a good decision after all.

Let's take A-K for example. Folding A-K is not something most people would recommend doing but there are certain situations, especially when playing against tight poker players when doing so, it might help you save some serious amount of your chips. A-K it's overevaluated by many players, sometimes misleading them to bet too many chips or money (in case of cash games). The problem with A-K is that it’s a double-edged sword - it’s a mighty hand, but it’s also a drawing hand, meaning that it needs help to win. On the other hand, if two or more players raise before the flop, it usually means that they have a decent poker pair.

Many players don’t realise that A-K is never a favourite against any pocket pre-flop pair. Also, the chances of getting something on the board that you can match with A-K are only around 30%. And this is true for any big hand that gives you an apparent feeling of a high chance of winning.

So yes I'm agreeing with you in this matter.