When should you leave a chip behind in a poker tournament?
Good question.
A lot of people do it at random times that don't make any sense.
When that happens, it slows down the games and causes mistakes. That's not something I would recommend.
Strategic benefits
There is a strategic benefit to leaving a chip from your stack behind when you do it on the river when you're about to go all-in.
So instead of going all-in, leave one chip back. The reason some professionals do that is that sometimes you're going to be bluffing, and you're going to lose the pot.
In those instances, it's very valuable to leave that chip back.
Let me share an example: Imagine the blinds are 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante, and you leave a 100 chip back.
Next hand, you go all in for that 100, and anyone who wants to play the hand has to match your 100. But you also qualify for that 1,000 ante, even though you didn't put it in.
You can turn that 100 chip into 1,200, 1,300, or 1,400 chips the very next hand. That's a very good risk-to-reward ratio.
When not to do it
The times you don't want to leave one chip behind are randomly preflop, or on the flop, or on the turn. Sometimes you'll see pros do that because they're stalling for a pay jump. When that happens, it's a rare situation.
Some people think that's unethical; some think it's fine. I'm not really sharing my opinion on that. That's not what this video is about. You can form your own opinion.
My advice is don't just do it randomly, on the flop or the turn, especially when there's not even a pay jump. That's just wasting time and potentially may cause some mistakes.
Faraz Jaka is the founder and head coach at Jaka Coaching, as well as a member of the PokerOrg Player Advisory Board. He has 18+ years on the circuit, made 8 WSOP final tables, racked up over $15 million in winnings, and has been coaching everyone from aspiring grinders to seasoned high rollers.
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