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Express Fold and the three P's of Poker - Is it a good idea?

Express Fold feature of SpadeClub - Is it a good idea?

Like most poker questions, the answer usually begins with "It depends...."

It depends on why you are using the feature. If you are busy at work or even at home while you are playing a tournament, then it can help you to last longer in a tournament by folding hands that otherwise might count against your sit out total number of allowed hands. That is a good thing.

However, if you are focusing on your tournament while at your computer, then I think that it is a bad choice for the following reasons:
1-You need to develop you poker decision making ability and the express fold feature can prevent you from using and developing your decision making ability
2-Patience is a tough skill to develop in poker but it is the number one (of three P's) skill that all great poker players need to develop and maintain as impatience leads to playing poor starting hands whick usually leads to losing chips; you need to learn to be patient not dependant.
3- Pairs- the number two (of three P's) skill that all great poker players need to develop and maintain is when to play your small pairs. The odds of hitting a set is 7.5 to 1, so if you are getting a good price then you should limp in and try to take down a big pot when you hit a set - the express fold denies you this opportunity or it will cost you chips more often than you want because this is a situational opportunity.
4- Position- the number three (of three P's) skill that all great poker players need to develop and maintain is when to play your position - no matter what your cards may be; the blinds might be tight or just one caller (small blind) when you are in the big blind thus you have position.
5-Lastly, you might have pocket Aces late in a tournament and decide to fold them PREFLOP; yes, I know that many will think that I am crazy but this has been fully explained in more than one poker book as a good choice when you are close to making the "Money" - real cash dollars - because I have lost with Aces and missed the money as in thousands of dollars - so I will explain this in a future blog.

Everything in poker is situational; just think about it.

COMMENTS

POSTED BY:
IrishQueeen

Apr 28, 08 02:39 PM

Good post. Odd, I just used the ability to fold AA in my blog today.

POSTED BY:
DrCheckRaise

Apr 28, 08 02:44 PM

In NL poker there is One "P" that you are leaving out... it is one of the most important P's that there is. Let's see who can figure it out first, you or one of your readers....

POSTED BY:
StevenBVT

Apr 28, 08 03:15 PM

Good article and so true... I never use express fold. I like to have the option of playing any hand at any time if I feel adventurous or the price is right. In the cutoff with everyone limping and I have 7-2 off? I might call just to see what hits. You can take down big pots if you hit. I just wouldn't do it often!

POSTED BY:
eddie2kings

Apr 28, 08 03:26 PM

I aggree with your assessment regarding the use of the express fold key. And, coincidentally, I found a wonderful use of express fold this past Sat. I was the chip leader late in a $5K Qualifier. With 17 players remaining, I had to leave the table for a 7 o'clock appointment. I decided to "select all" in the set up menu and clicked on "express fold". . . I left the computer on and was delighted to see when I returned hours later, that I had made it to the final table 8th place with a blue token.

POSTED BY:
ceboose

Apr 28, 08 04:41 PM

Writer, I agree with your comments but when it comes to the Express Fold feature it only will fold the hands that you have preselected. If you are starting out and you need assistance in learning patience you can have the feature turned on and watch what occurs. If the hand folded you know that you weren't supposed to play it. If the raise bar appears you know that you can play the hand depending on what happened to your right. I totally agree with #4 and have written to support to remove the

POSTED BY:
ceboose

Apr 28, 08 04:47 PM

Don't know where I left off...#4,- I have contacted support about turning off this feature while at the blinds because I think there are so many times that it worth the extra chips to see a flop.
Good Blog, Writer.