What Happens When Everyone Folds in Poker?

Poker isn’t all about who has the best hand. In Texas Hold’em, some hands (actually most hands) end with the winner collecting the pot because all other players fold.

Folding is the act of surrendering your cards and giving up any chance to win a pot. When you fold, you’re out of the action until the next hand begins.

What happens if all players in a poker hand fold? Let’s find out.

What Happens When Everyone Folds in Poker?

There can’t be a poker hand in which every single player folds, as somebody has to win the pot! In a nine-handed game, for instance, if eight players fold preflop, the one player that didn’t fold wins the pot.

For example, let’s say we’re watching a $1/$2 cash game with nine players at the table. The preflop betting round sees the first six players to act all fold. The Button open-raises to $10, and the remaining two players fold (the players in the Small Blind and the Big Blind).

The Button player wins the pot uncontested, and the dealer pushes $3 (the $1 and $2 bets submitted by the players in the blinds) to the Button player.

If the first eight players all fold, the player in the Big Blind wins the $3 pot uncontested.

Folding is one of the most fundamental concepts in all poker formats. Whether you’re playing Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Seven-Card Stud, or any other poker game, you always win the pot if all other players but you fold.

When Can a Player Fold?

Any player can fold at any time, in any betting round. As we discussed, there can’t be a poker hand where all players fold; at least one player has to still be in the hand. The last player that doesn’t fold wins the pot.

In the preflop betting round, if all players but one fold, the remaining player wins the pot and the hand doesn’t go any further. 

The same concept applies in all subsequent betting rounds. For example, if one players folds out all other players during the turn betting round in a game of Texas Hold’em, the hand ends there.