At a glance
- On the HUD
- Flop XF·Turn XF·River XF
- Formula
folds / times they checked and then faced a bet- Typical range
30–60% on every street
- Where it shows
- In the player database, where you can see every stat for a player (not on the table badges).
- Read hint
- Above: Check-folds a lot: bet when checked to.
- Trust it after
- 12 chances. Below that the number is faded; reads need 12 chances and a number at least one standard error outside the typical range.
What it measures
Check-fold is the giving-up answer to the spot shared with check-raise and check-call: they checked, someone bet, and they folded. It measures how much air sits in a player’s checks and how readily they let it go.
At the table it’s the line every fit-or-fold player knows: check the flop, fold to the c-bet. Or call the flop, check the turn and fold to the second barrel. On the river, check-folding is a missed draw saving the last bet, or a bluff-catcher deciding it isn’t good enough.
It differs from fold to c-bet and fold vs bet. Fold to c-bet only counts c-bets and includes players in position who never had the option to check. Fold vs bet counts the first time a player faces a single bet on the street, whether or not they checked first. Check-fold is the out-of-position slice: the player could have bet, chose to check, and then gave up.
How it’s calculated
Check-fold = folds ÷ times they checked and then faced a bet.
- Chance: the same spot as check-call, a street where they checked with no bet in front and their next action faced a bet.
- Counts: if that next action was a fold.
- Excluded: streets where fewer than two players had chips left to bet.
Two details are worth knowing. Bets of every size count together, so a player who mostly faces big bets shows a higher number than one who faces small ones, without folding any worse. And in a multiway pot, a check followed by a bet and a raise before the action returns still counts; folding there is a check-fold, and often a sensible one.
There are no narrower versions. Because check-call uses the same chances, check-fold plus check-call is 100% minus the share they check-raised.
Example: Sam checked and faced a flop bet 36 times. He folded 23, called 11 and raised 2: check-fold is 23 ÷ 36 = 64% and check-call 11 ÷ 36 = 31%. On the river he checked and faced a bet 14 times and folded 5: 5 ÷ 14 = 36%, though at 14 chances that number is still rough.
Why it matters
Check-fold is the nearest thing to a direct answer to “will a bet win the pot right now?” when someone checks to you. If a player folds 65% after checking, a 66% pot bet, which needs 39.8% folds, makes money with any two cards, as long as they fold that often to your size. Even a pot-sized bet, which needs 50%, does.
It also tells you what their checks contain. A high check-fold means their check range leans toward air, typical of a player who bets their good hands and checks their bad ones. In home games that’s a lot of recreational players: they bet when they have a pair and check what missed. A low check-fold means their checks hold real hands, traps included, so bets into them need value behind them.
The money adds up because the spot is everywhere. Every flop where they defend and check to the raiser, every turn after they call, every river: each time you decide whether to bet into a check, and this number sets how often you can bluff.
Too low, about right, too high
Too low: under 30%
What it says
They rarely fold after checking, so a check from them isn’t weakness. Either they check a strong range (good hands as well as bad) or they’re a calling station who won’t fold pairs or draws. Check-raise tells you which: a low check-fold with a high check-raise is a trapper; a low check-fold with a high check-call is a station. Players like this are also why a c-bet that prints in one game stops working in another: the folds you’re used to simply aren’t there.
How to exploit it
- Cut bluffs when they check, especially on the turn and river.
- If the rest is mostly check-calls, value bet thinner: middle pair can bet for value on the flop against a station.
- If the rest is mostly check-raises, bet a tighter range and check back your medium hands.
- Use bigger sizes for value. They aren’t folding to small bets anyway, so make the calls count.
- Against a trapper, check back more on boards that hit their checking range, and take free cards with your draws.
About right: 30–60%
What it says
They fold a reasonable share after checking: air goes, pairs and draws stay. Most players sit here on the flop. Inside the band, the street pattern is where the information is. Many players fold at a normal rate on the flop and much more on the turn, once their weak pairs and backdoor draws run out. Keep the bet sizes in mind too: a normal number built mostly against small bets belongs to a tighter folder than the same number built against big ones.
How to exploit it
- Compare streets. A turn number near 60% with a flop number near 40% says their flop calls are light: double-barrel turn cards that miss their likely draws.
- Bet small on boards that favor you; against a normal folder, cheap bets with your whole range push them off a lot of equity.
- Save river bluffs for players whose river check-fold sits in the upper half of the band.
- When you choose a size, use the panel’s fold rates for each bet size; the street number mixes every size together.
Too high: over 60%
What it says
Their checks are weak and they know it. A player over 60% checks hands they’ve given up on and folds them to any bet: fit-or-fold flops, one-and-done turn calls, rivers where everything short of strong goes in the muck. Nits, Rocks and cautious recreational players land here, along with players who bet their good hands and check the rest. The HUD’s read here is “Check-folds a lot: bet when checked to.”
How to exploit it
- Bet when checked to, with a wide range. A 33% bet needs 24.8% folds, so against a 65% folder even pure air shows a profit.
- Don’t value bet thin into them; when they don’t fold, they have something.
- Use the smallest size that gets the folds. Their folds come from giving up, not from the price, so a 33% bet often wins the same pots a 66% bet would.
- Barrel the turn after they call the flop if their turn number is high too.
- In multiway pots, when everyone has checked to you, bet more often if the check-folders are the players you need to get through.
On the flop, turn and river
Flop: check-fold
On the flop, check-fold is mostly the out-of-position player against a c-bet, and it depends heavily on how wide they played preflop. A big blind who defends a wide range will check-fold more on the flop simply because more of their hands miss. In loose home games, where players call preflop with many weak hands, the flop number can run high for that reason alone.
Against small c-bets, folding over 60% is a real leak. A 33% bet needs only 24.8% folds, and MDF says to defend about three-quarters of the range. Against big bets, a higher fold rate is closer to correct, which is why the size people bet into this player matters when you judge the number.
Exploit: against a flop XF over 60%, c-bet small with your whole range, especially on dry boards, and stab in multiway pots when the check-folder is the one you need to get through.
Turn: check-fold
The turn check-fold is the second-barrel number. The player called the flop or the flop went check-check, they checked again, and now face a bet. Many players fold far more on the turn than the flop, because their flop calls were draws and weak pairs that needed help, and the help mostly doesn’t come.
Compare turn to flop. A turn XF well above the flop number means their flop calls are light and they give up: double-barrel cards that don’t complete draws, like a low card that misses a two-tone flop’s flush. A turn XF below the flop number means the hands that called the flop are strong and continuing: barrel only with value.
Exploit: against a turn XF over 60%, the turn bet does more work than the flop c-bet. You can c-bet the flop smaller and plan to fire the turn, since that’s where they fold.
River: check-fold
The river check-fold is a showdown decision. With no cards to come, the player decides whether a bluff-catcher is good enough. A high river XF means they don’t call without a strong hand, which makes river bluffs with missed draws a steady source of profit. A low river XF means they call to see your hand, and river bluffs are burned money.
Read it with went to showdown: a low WTSD with a high river XF describes a player who rarely reaches showdown without the goods. Size matters more on the river than on any other street. A half-pot bluff needs 33.3% folds and a pot-sized one 50%, so against a player who check-folds 55%, the smaller bluff leaves a wide margin and the bigger one only just clears break-even.
Exploit: against a river XF over 60%, bluff your missed draws when they check, and don’t value bet thin; their calls are strong.
When it’s your own number
If your check-fold is over 60%, the read other players see on you says “bet when you check,” and the observant ones will. You’ll face more small stabs, more c-bets and more second barrels after you call.
To check yourself, start with the flop number. If you fold over 60% after checking on the flop, you’re either defending too wide preflop or folding hands with equity against small bets. Against a 33% bet, any pair and most draws should continue, and overcards with a backdoor draw often can. If the problem is the turn, plan your flop calls: call with hands that have good turns, and fold the ones that will just check-fold next street.
Using it on the HUD
Check-fold lives in the player database only; open a player there to see it on all three streets beside check-call and check-raise. Its read can still show up among the player’s reads when the number is high enough, because check-fold has a read hint even though it isn’t on the table badges.
Gold means over 60%, blue under 30%, faded under 12 chances. No narrower versions are kept. A 50% check-fold over 30 chances is ±9 points and over 100 chances ±5. The read needs the number to sit at least one standard error above 60%: at 65% over 30 chances the error is √(0.65 × 0.35 ÷ 30) ≈ 8.7 points, so no read yet. At 65% it takes 0.65 × 0.35 ÷ 0.05² = 91 chances.
At the table, fold to c-bet on the badges covers much of the same ground, and bet when checked to on the panel shows the bettor’s side of the spot.
Questions
What is a good check-fold percentage?
The HUD treats 30–60% as typical on each street. Against small bets, a good player sits toward the low end, since a 33% bet only needs 24.8% folds to profit as a bluff. Against big bets, more folding is fine. Over 60% means their checks are weak and you should bet into them.
What does a high check-fold mean?
It means the player checks hands they’ve given up on and folds them to a bet. Their checking range is mostly air, and their good hands are usually bet or check-raised. Bet into them often with small sizes, and respect them when they call, since a high check-folder’s calls are stronger than average.
Check-fold vs fold to c-bet: which should I use?
Use fold to c-bet when you’re the preflop raiser deciding whether to c-bet, because the badge shows it for your exact spot: position, pot type, heads-up or multiway. Use check-fold when you want to know how a player handles any bet after checking, including stabs, second barrels and bets from players other than the raiser.
Why is a player’s turn check-fold higher than their flop one?
Because they call flops with hands that need help and fold them when the turn doesn’t bring it. That pattern is common in loose games, where players float the flop with weak pairs and draws. It means double barrels work against them: bet turns that miss their likely draws.