AoF stands for All-in or Fold. In poker, this is a relatively new dynamic format that is gaining popularity in the largest rooms. Having received cards, the player chooses between two actions – fold or go all-in.
There are no traditional betting rounds in AoF. This makes the game easier, faster and more exciting. The format quickly became popular with recreational players who come to the tables to have fun and emotions.
Next, we’ll look at what AoF is in poker and what strategy works there.
Basic AoF Rules
- The player is dealt a starting hand, after which he must make a decision – fold or go all-in.
- The hand is dealt according to normal poker rules. The only betting rounds on the flop, turn and river are excluded from the game.
- The poker player cannot choose the bet size. All-in means that all the chips go to the pot. If your opponent has fewer chips, then your potential loss is limited by the size of your opponent's stack.
Useful All-In or Fold Strategy
In classic poker formats, players receive new information on each street. The revealed cards on the table allow you to evaluate whether your opponents ranges have strengthened or weakened. For example, if an opponent raises, you can assume that he most often has a broadway and will rarely have a very strong hand on low-card flops.
Another important element in conventional poker formats is bet sizing. The size of bets and raises that an opponent uses allows you to estimate the strength of your opponent's potential hand and the possible number of bluffs in the range. In AoF, players are deprived of the ability to use this information, and this seriously affects strategy.
The importance of choosing the right starting hands for the game increases. If you make a mistake preflop, you will no longer be able to minimize losses on subsequent streets.
The last player to make a decision receives the most information. But in late positions in AoF poker, you lose the opportunity to squeeze your opponents out of the hand with the help of raises and 3-bet.
You can find AoF on sites like ACR, PokerKing, Natural8, and GGPoker.
General AoF Strategy Tips:
- First of all, you need to study the optimal starting hand ranges.
- The lack of traditional betting rounds and the ability to use different betting sizes does not exclude the profitable use of aggression and bluffs in AoF. If we are talking about a tournament, then the stack size becomes more important. It becomes easier to put pressure on players who have few chips left and are at risk of being eliminated from the tournament in any given hand.
- You need to carefully observe your opponents to understand in which direction they deviate from optimal strategies. In AoF, hands move quickly, and it is not difficult to draw conclusions about the type of opponents. If your opponent is ready to go all-in with any garbage in his hands, then you should expand your ranges. Conversely, if a player folds everything except premium starters, then you should call his all-ins less often. But such a cautious player definitely needs to be pressured more often with an increased number of bluffs if he is on the left.
- The advantage of professionals over amateurs in AoF is less than in traditional disciplines. Therefore, in most cases, a poker player’s income greatly depends on the poker room’s loyalty program. Be sure to study the conditions for receiving rakeback, jackpots and other bonuses.
- It's worth practicing understanding the equity of different hands against multiple opponents using poker calculators like FlopZilla.
In AoF there will be regular spots where, in addition to the main pot, there are also side ones. You need to learn to understand how they are calculated. Such situations arise due to differences in player stack sizes.
For example, three players went all-in with stacks of 100, 150 and 200 chips.
- One pot will contain 300 chips, 100 from each hand participant.
- Another 100 (50+50) will go to the side and will be played between players with stacks of 150 and 200 chips.
A player with a stack of 100 can win no more than 100 chips from each opponent. A player with a 200 stack cannot lose more than 150 chips in such a hand.
Bankroll Management in AoF Poker
The variance in AoF is one of the highest in poker. In each hand you have to risk either your entire stack or most of it. Therefore, periods of failure can be long and painful. Because of this, the requirements for the size of a poker player’s bankroll are significantly increased.
You can't gamble with money you can't afford to lose.
A professional allocates separate funds for the game and strictly follows the financial strategy. The higher the variance in the discipline being played, the more buy-ins should be in the bankroll. For AoF we are talking about values of 300-500 buy-ins for tournaments and 150-300 for cash tables. According to professional players, even such high numbers are not enough for AoF.
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