Fold
Action Level · Beginner Aliases: mucking, laying it down, giving up the hand
Folding gives up your hand and any claim to the pot, ending your involvement in it.
What is Fold
A fold returns your cards to the dealer and gives up the hand. You cannot bet again, and you have no claim to the main pot or any side pot. Folding most often happens facing a bet or raise, when the cost of continuing outweighs what the hand is worth. Blinds, calls and bets already made belong to the pot and cannot be recovered by folding. A fold is not timid or automatically a mistake — avoiding further payments with a weak hand is a substantial part of long-term profit. In a live game, push the cards face down toward the dealer rather than exposing them or making any motion that could affect the remaining players.
On the felt
Table6-max cash game
PositionBB vs BTN
FlopA♠K♦8♣
ActionFold facing a large river bet
Example
You have already put in 8BB, but facing a 20BB river bet from the button on A♠K♦8♣4♥2♠ you fold. The 8BB stays in the pot and your hand loses any claim to it immediately.
Common mistakes
- Expecting to recover earlier bets by folding. Every chip already committed stays in the pot.
- Treating folding as weakness. When continuing has no positive expectation, folding is simply cutting the loss correctly.
Related terms
All-in
Going all-in means putting every remaining chip you have into the pot.
Bluff
A bluff is a bet made with a weak hand, aiming to make better hands fold.
Call
Calling means matching the current bet to stay in the hand.
Check
Checking means passing the action without putting in chips when there is no bet to face.
Check-Raise
A check-raise means checking first, then raising after an opponent bets on the same street.
Continuation Bet
A continuation bet is a bet on the flop by the player who raised last before it.