Do you ever fold a hand you would normally play?

I had 18BB in a tournament yesterday and picked up K9s in the cutoff. Normally I’m pretty happy to play that hand there, but there was a very aggressive player on the button and a big stack in the blinds.

I ended up folding because I didn't really want to get dragged into a messy spot.

Would you still open K9s there, or is folding it sometimes just the easier option?

Before we enter the pot, we always want to think about, what is likely to happen, and how good or bad for us, this will be. With 18BB you are a bit to deep to open jam with a reasonable risk/reward. So I would rule that option out. Then the other option is to make a small open. But if we expect to get 3-bet a lot, and we are going to fold to that 3-bet, which is usually the case with a hand like K9s, then maybe its better to not open in the first place.

And the same can also be true, if we expect BTN to commonly call us and then put us in bad situations postflop using his position and bigger stack. So if you had a read, that any of this was going to happen at a much higher than normal frequency, then its a reasonable adjustment to tighten up and fold even a hand as relatively strong as K9s from CO. Its certainly better to not put in any chips than to open to 2.2BB and then have to fold to a 3-bet.

Of course we cant sit and fold forever, but with 18BB its usually only a matter of an orbit or two, before your stack has dropped below 15BB, and you can open jam. And then it no longer matter, that BTN is "a very aggressive player", because now he can no longer 3-bet you out of the pot or float you and be a pain in the a... postflop. So I will say, that this was likely a good adjustment to the situation.

I would fold this hand in this spot with 18 BBs. If you open something like 2 BBs, the opponent would at least call for sure. If you bet more and face a 3bet, you have a big problem. You will have to shove after flop with the remaining stack, hiting or not the flop. With a dry board, if you check we hill put you in an all in situation. Unless you made a high pair or better, you will lose chips.

I would say that it is much easier to retire, with 18BB I would only play with good hands and depending on the average and from which place I pay I would only play all in/fold with strong hands to avoid variance and steal chips in BTN or SB if there was no action before me

Nesehorn156 said:

I had 18BB in a tournament yesterday and picked up K9s in the cutoff. Normally I’m pretty happy to play that hand there, but there was a very aggressive player on the button and a big stack in the blinds.

I ended up folding because I didn't really want to get dragged into a messy spot.

Would you still open K9s there, or is folding it sometimes just the easier option?

Click to expand...

Hi
Their position at the table isn't bad. Unfortunately, 9-K is not a strong enough hand—especially as we approach the money.
Overall, I’ll fold until I get a strong, connected hand that includes at least an Ace.
In addition to choosing strong hands, we always hope for a bit of luck.
Good luck