Push And Fold Poker
Introduction to Folding
The push-or-fold stage of a tournament is probably the most complex stage. When to go all-in, when to fold? Sooner or later you will inevitably be forced to take the time to look into the mathematical. The push/fold strategy is a major weapon if it is used in the right way and at the right times. There are far too many players who will try to push/fold when it is either too early in the tournament, or before their stack size warrants the play. Be careful and selective with how you apply push/folding to your skill set. For live poker, the push/fold strategy works, but because the pace of play is faster with online poker, push/fold is even more important to understand when it comes to online poker strategy. The Push Fold App is a great tool to study short stack situations where you have less than 12 big blinds and you need to decide whether to shove all in, fold, or call an all in. If you want to challenge yourself.
Knowing what hands to fold in poker doesn’t come easy to most players. If you’re reading this article, you’re probably concerned that you play too many hands, call too many raises speculatively or on the contrary, play too tight and need some guidance. We can’t all play like Phil Ivey or Tom Dwan and expect play a wide range of hands profitably. This article will give a basic guide on what hands to fold in poker.
Playing Situations, not Just Cards
Before I get into the hand groups you should be folding. Let me preface it by saying that, as your experience, table awareness and proficiency in Texas Hold’em develops, you will look for profitable situations instead of just playing solid poker hands. This is something I always tell players I mentor. But this article is designed to help those of you who are having difficulty with pre flop hand selection and want some general advice on what hands to fold in poker.
Ace Rag
Ace rag is almost definitely the most overplayed and overrated hand in Texas Holdem. Even professionals will occasionally overplay the ace if they’ve been dealt junk for hours. The truth is, unless you are in position or shorthanded, these hands are unlikely to make you any money or help build your stack much.
They don’t play particularly well post flop and you are unlikely to extract 3 streets of value if you make top pair. Sometimes when you think you will, you end up finding yourself beat by a bigger kicker.
Push Fold Poker Chart
Low Paint Cards
This may surprise you but the Queen Jack and King Jack hands are not as powerful as you think. Granted, you have two paint cards and have the opportunity to make straights. But, if you are calling raises with these hands, particularly against early position open raises, you are going to find yourself outkicked or against a higher pair.
Push Fold Poker Tournament Chart
If a strong player is opening from under the gun and you are tempted to play Queen Jack from the small blind, think again. The range of hands you are likely to be up against have Queen Jack in bad shape.
To make this clearer, if you are against an Ace Jack, Ace Queen or King Queen, you are approx. 25% to win the hand in a showdown. Let’s also not forget you do not have the pre flop lead.
Push Fold Poker
Low Connectors
Hands like 4-5, 6-7 and 3-4 are hands to fold in poker. I make a distinction from suited as they play much better. The offsuit low connectors are unlikely to help your ROI. You may have seen some professionals call raises on High Stakes Poker with these hands. That doesn’t mean they were right to and it doesn’t mean you should. Unless you make a hand stronger than one pair, you are unlikely to feel secure with low connectors so just throw them away.
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Push Fold Charts
These Push Fold Charts will help you understand when you need to either fold or shove your entire stack when you are short stacked in poker tournaments. Please use these charts as a study tool to help you improve your understanding of push fold scenarios.
Free Book: Jonathan Little’s new book –
“Strategies for Beating Small Stakes Poker Tournaments”
will help you with short handed play and other aspects of Poker Tournaments.
Push And Fold Poker Tables
You can get a PDF copy free by clicking here.
If you want to access these Push Fold Charts on your phone, download the PokerCoaching.com Mobile App With Free Push / Fold Charts
You can also access the Push / Fold App on your computer to access these and more charts for all seating positions, and several different blind levels.
Also check out our Push/Fold Quiz which will help you test and remember you skills when short stacked.
Load Chart Desired:
These charts are meant to be used for study purposes. Make sure to check the Terms and Conditions of the sites that you play on to see if this is against the rules to use any of these while you’re in a poker game. If it is against the TOC of the game you are in, you should not use these tools while you play.