How to Deal With Fold Haters in Poker: A Story from Alex Fitzgerald

Who Is Alexander Fitzgerald?

Alex Fitzgerald, better known by the nickname “Assassinato,” is a professional poker player, coach, author, and co-author of a few poker books, including:

• The 100 Biggest Mistakes That Poker Players Make
• The Myth of Poker Talent
• Jonathan Little’s Excelling at No-Limit Hold’em
• How to Beat Players Who Never Fold: Succeeding in Casino
• Exploitative Play in Live Poker
• Improve Your Poker Now! A Guide for Serious Amateurs

He has been playing poker since the early 2000s and has made more than $4.5M in profit from live and online poker tournaments. As of 2024, he specializes in coaching and has already helped more than 1K players climb up stakes and become better at the game.

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Alex’ Story Of Beating The Never-Folder

Recently, Alex was playing a $600 6-Max event in Black Hawk at the table full of decent regulars who weren’t making many mistakes as well as playing wildly well.

He knows what to do to beat them but then at the table sat a new player: young hoodied regular with rough facial hair who hated folding anything:

“I knew with him two to my left I was going to have a problem. Every time I raised I was going to deal with his stubborn play.

Players like this used to drive me crazy. I had no idea how to beat them. It seemed like all they did was never fold. I would raise with solid hands, but I would never hit anything. Since they never folded and I never had a hand, I lost pot after pot versus them. I had no idea what to do.

However, now I know exactly how to beat these kinds of players.”

Alex decided to apply his knowledge when he made it 4.5K to go with J♣️8♣️ from the small blind and the fold-hater called immediately from the big blind.

The board was T♣️5♠️2♥️ — and our hero started to spring the trap:

“I knew there was no chance he would fold to my continuation bet in position. He is going to assume on that board I either have a ten or I don’t, and I likely don’t have a ten. It’s unlikely I would have raised with a five or two.

I wanted to bet something that he would call with pretty much everything. I wanted to bet something he would call, but not raise. If I bet less than what I raised preflop that would likely offend his honor, and I’d be facing a lot of random raises.”

So, Alex chose to bet 5,000 and the fold hater called it quickly. The turn came the Q♣️ — our hero was given a gutshot and flush draw.

For context, the fold hater started the hand with 80,000 in chips. He had already committed about 11,000 to the pot between blinds, antes, the preflop raise, and the flop bet. He had around 69,000 left.

This is the moment to test yourself by asking: what would you do in this situation? Alex insists you do so:

“If you want to get the full value out of this article, spend a second asking yourself what you would normally do in this situation. Look away from the screen. Think for a second.

If these players are running you over and beating you, it’s likely because of your exact play in this situation.

What would you do with the pot being 20,500? Would you bet 10,000?

Alright, do you have your answer?”

He himself firstly reached for 25,000 in chips but quickly realized: this is live poker where most players don’t keep track of the pot size. So there was a great chance that his opponent doesn’t know the pot size:

“20,000 in chips will look like an overbet. He’s going to see the bet sizes go from 5,000 to 20,000 and assume that’s a huge overbet.

I bet the 20,000.

Right after I slid my chips out here, he started shuffling his own chips rapidly. He stared at the board. 20,000 was a large amount of his remaining 69,000 in chips.

Think about what he calls the flop with. He calls with any 2,5, or T, of course. He also calls with a number of Ace highs and King highs just to see what we do on the turn. He calls with 3-3, 4-4, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, and 9-9, if he didn’t threebet those combinations preflop. None of those hands wanted to see this large bet on the turn.”

As Alex explains, the brilliant thing is that this bet doesn’t even have to work that often:

“We didn’t even bet the size of the pot! This bet needs to work slightly less than half of the time. Do you think he’s calling half of the time there with all those garbage hands?…”

What problems was the fold hater facing at that moment:

1. If he calls now — the hand isn’t over and Alex can river a huge hand.
2. If he just calls on this turn while playing a pressure poker player — it can be a sign of him likely having only one pair. Because with Two Pair or a Set he would likely jam this turn that brings multiple straight and flush draws.
3. If he calls with a mediocre pair — he’s going to face a lot of river all-ins and he doesn’t want to get rivered.

So, Alex patiently waited while the fold hater took over a minute to think about all of that and make a final decision:

“I actually got calmer the longer he took. It looked like he had a genuine problem. When people turn the Queen there with their K-Qo they usually call fairly quickly so they can “re-evaluate the river.” If they have turned two pair or if they’re slowplaying a set, they usually take 20 or 30 seconds before they shove. They thank their lucky stars you’re some idiot who loves his pocket Kings, and they anxiously await their huge payday. Once the person spends a minute having no idea what to do, you’re golden.

He finally mucked his hand. I won the pot with Jack high. I mucked my hand quietly and we went to the next hand.”

Seven Short Tips For Beating MTTs from Alex

1. Pay attention. You need to gather as much information from each situation as possible. In live events — look presentable to deceive people from seeing you as a pro and at the same time be attentive to how people act, where they are from, what makes them nervous, etc. In online events — check your own and other stats, count limpers, evaluate level of tightness, look for showdowns, etc.
2. Raise limpers. When you are in position, raise limpers judiciously. Go to 4X + 2X for each limper and BB. So if there’s one limper, make it 4X, plus 2X for the BB, and 2X for the limper, so a total of 8X. Using this formula will get people to keep folding 3-6 big blinds to you, which is excellent. Just pay attention to the first limper. Sometimes they will limp AA.
3. 3-bet wide openers. If some guy is opening all his broadways, his suited aces, 8-7s+ and his small pairs, then three-bet him. He’ll usually fold or call you OOP. Either way he’s screwed. Even that tighter range does not flop a pair or a draw 43% of the time. A half-pot continuation bet only needs to work 33% of the time. If you see the guy open suited-gappers and weaker suited connectors, his life just gets worse. But the real motherload is if you see him open any ace. Now he’s bricking half the time. By the way, if you three-bet, continuation bet, and run into a pair… he’ll likely just call. Enjoy your free cards.
4. Squeeze more. If you have one guy opening constantly, and a few players who are gunning to call him and take him down, steal their chips! If you have a good hand, don’t settle with cold calling. Three-bet to 6X the initial open if there’s one raiser and a caller. Add 2.5X for each additional caller. You don’t have to go exactly to this number, but squeeze bigger to get one call or to get everyone to fold.
5. Attack the BB. If no one’s spewing their chips through limping or raising with weak hands, raise big enough preflop to get to the big blind constantly. Screw 2.5X. Make it 4X. For some reason, everybody thinks you can call the big blind with any two cards. Even tight players seem to have this weakness. So, isolate them.
6. Look out for shortstacks. If you are pot committed to a couple different players jamming if you squeeze, then settle for a cold call instead of a 3-bet. If there’s 3+ short stacks to your left (20 big blinds or less) be very careful about opening. Don’t ever be caught unaware! Remember rule number one! Pay attention!
7. Never take a hand off. Watch every hand. Get to the tournament early. Pay attention. Start accumulating chips the second you see one of the weaknesses described above. Do not wait till you’re shortstacked with everyone else. If you want to win the tournament you can’t take a hand off. Be humble and realize when you can’t win, but execute firmly when the advantage is in your favor.