As many of you know I normally play in the lower limits of poker both because that's what feels comfortable to me and that's what I can afford. Another reason I like the low levels is because the skills you need to profit from these low limit games are very simple. If you can fold a better hand than your opponent you are going to be able to take his/her money eventually. The art of the fold is the main focus in cash games and tournaments in the small and micro stakes cash games in tournaments.
I think I was 13 or 14 when my mother insisted I learned some type of self defense and she knew a karate instructor so I was to learn the art of karate. Karate and poker kinda run along the same training path. The first thing they teach you in karate is how to take a fall. You practice falling and falling and falling until you get it down to a science. Poker is the same way, everyone wants to pull off some fancy play of check raising with a nothing hand and be considered the next big thing in poker. To me that's like walking into the dojo and saying, "ok first off, show me how to break a brick with my forehead". It just doesn't work that way.
Folding can and often should be your friend. The hardest part for most people is folding on the flop. They raised or called a raise or even limped in, that's MY money in that pot. All of us have heard this but never really think of it when in the heat of battle: "The money put in on a previous street is no longer your money, same thing with blinds". One of the toughest things to do is to have pocket kings, raise get called into a multi way pot and have an ace hit the board. I have always been a big believer in what I call "the top card theory". Someone else may have a more scientific name for it and i'm sure i'm not the only one who thought of it but it's what I call it. The theory goes: whatever the top card is, no matter what the value someone paired it. Even if the board is 2 3 4 and you have AKs someone probably hit something with 47o. Now if it's 2 3 4 and you have KK then that's a totally different scenario. For whatever reason I have always been more comfortable playing AK and floping an ace or a king rather than playing AA and seeing a flop of rags or whatever. I have gotten to the point in my poker discipline where I can fold kings when an ace comes on the flop and feel ok about it. Sure I'll probably throw out a continuation bet or a blocking bet if I feel the situation warrants it, but if I get raised I know i'm probably up against an ace. Yeah a lot of these people on the site from various corners of the world seem to love to play any ace. Yes, you want to punish them from playing those hands. Kings can not punish weak aces, strong aces punish weak aces.
Folding in a tournament can even be your friend. Like I have always preached the bigger my stack the tighter I am playing. I don't always do that but for the purposes of this discussion let's say that's the norm. If there are 20 people left in an event and 15 make the money and i'm in 14th, I am hoping not to see a decent hand and let other people make bad choices. The more chances I give a bad player to make a choice is great for me. If I make ten bad decisions for every 100 choices and they make 20 bad decisions for every 100, who's going to fault first more often? I can fold a weak ace, they cant, I can fold two unsuited face cards, they can't, I can fold small pairs in early position, they can't. My ability to lay down a hand and not even think about limping in with it (because in tournament play 99% of the time it's a bad play) is what is going to get me into the money more often and therefore profit from their decisions. This is all possible because I can fold a hand and not get mad when my 33 UTG would have flopped a set.
So the next time you play a small stakes event remember, folding CAN be a +EV choice if you look at it in the right light. If you can learn to take a fall you'll be able to break bricks in no time.
Love and life,
BG
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