In a 1/2 NL game, one player had a habit of folding when the action was on him in a multiway pot, even if he was not facing a bet. He never folded out of turn, but he often folded even if there were still live players behind who had yet to act. The pots were always multiway and never heads up.

During one down, after watching the player do it several times, the dealer told the player that he was not allowed to surrender his hand in a multiway pot if the action had been checked to him. The dealer said that a player can only fold/surrender if he is facing a bet.

Is this right? Is there a rule against folding in turn when not facing a bet? If there is no prohibition, is the permissible action nevertheless considered bad etiquette?

Dealer is wrong. You are allowed to fold when action is to you. Sure, it gives players to act afterwards an advantage, but that's the same with any advantage that comes with seat selection.

Would anyone complain if big blind folds his option?

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It is definitely terrible etiquette at best to muck to no bet in a multiway pot. At some places it is against the rules, but usually not punished. I believe if someone does this they definitely should be warned not to do it again, and if they continue doing it spitefully, I would support them being removed from the game, though I would be very surprised to see that happen.

Mucking out of turn (whether facing a bet or not) is way worse than open folding in turn while not facing a bet.

Definitely bad etiquette but I've never seen anyone getting punished for it.

A couple of times I've heard the dealer announce "xyz checks out", other times nothing at all.

I disagree about this. Many times open mucking can cause the exact same problems that folding out of turn causes.

Regardless if it is technically legal or not, either one changes the game and is unfair to the other players. And it gives you no advantage, so the only reason anyone would do it after being asked not to is to deliberately be a douche. I hope OP wasn't really the one who did this, but in case he was, or if anyone else is reading this who likes to muck to no bet in a multiway pot, please just don't be a douche.

That is the least bad time for someone to muck to no bet, so probably no one would complain, but I've still never seen anyone deliberately muck his big blind to no raise. If this happens, it is always accidental, because either he thought it was raised or forgot he was the big blind. And 99% of the time the dealer or another player pushes his hand back to him, for which he is generally grateful.

I think it's bad etiquette, have never seen it punished.

I do believe that in stud games, when open folding, that spot continues to get cards, until the spot would have faced a bet.

I'd prefer for open mucking in turn to be addressed, but I'd really like bigger warnings for the OOT folders.

I'm confused why someone cares if they fold. Who is this harming?

For the record, people can feel free to fold to me whenever they want, I'm cool with it.

Let's say we are on the river. Player 1 wishes to bluff and thinks Player 2 has the best hand and might fold. Player 3 is closing the action.

Player 1 bluffs. Now Player 3 decides to go to the bathroom and folds out of turn. Player 2, now closing the action, calls.

Now, the folding in turn but to no bet is usually less dramatic, but let's now say that Player 2 is planning to bluff and Player 3 has the best hand. Player 1 checks out and folds the river facing no bet. Player 2 now bluffs and gets called, or just gives up on the bluff which would have worked.

I was not the player who did this, just an observer at the table.

Or player 2 is not planning on bluffing because he thinks player 3 will call.
Player 3 open folds so player 2 decides to bluff the remaining player.

I've seen it punished in a tournament-me! $200 donkament. Guy at the table took forever for every decision, including pre-flop in unraised pots. Anyhow, I had gotten into a limped pot, hated the flop and dude does his tank. After 30 seconds I couldn't take it anymore, I had to PEE so I got up. Came back to a round penalty.

Otherwise for cash games, I correlate to how well the room is run for when dealers promptly issue warnings for these types of infractions, and follow through with floors if repeated.

Not a good room if they either ignore or go directly to the floor. Shows that dealers are expected, empowered, and considered competent to enforce the rules and run the game.

But far less often and to a far less degree.

I mean if you want to argue on a totally binary level should you do it or not, I agree with you. But don't lump it in with mucking out of turn because on a practical level more people are going to be more upset with that.

I'm also way cool with it if it's a headsup pot. In a multiway pot I might very well not be happy you folded. Lawdude has already explained it as well as I would be able to.

Agree with this. It basically a check/fold out of turn. Never seen a rule against it or a player be punished for it, but at the last it's bad etiquette and should be avoided.

Well it wouldn't be an LCP thread without someone making a determination on something they are admittedly confused about.

This is not unethical and deserves no penalty or warning. Calling someone out on it on the other hand is tapping the tank. Don't do that.

Of course every action you take can influence the action. Just because this is a rare and bad action doesn't mean we should punish the players who want to use it. It is still legal by the rules in most places.

Here was an example from the other night. I call with something raggy on the button like 45s. We go 4 ways. Flop and turn are checked through, river is dealt, first player folds, second player folds, 3rd player checks to me, I put out a bet and win the hand. There's no way I'm bluffing there into 4 people and there's also no way I had the best hand, I don't think I could even beat the board. The only reason I won the hand, and by extension the only reason another player lost the hand, was because of the in turn folds when facing no action. It worked out for me in that instance but it didn't seem like a very fair victory.

While several posters have mentioned that it is considered bad etiquette, I have never seen it treated like that at the table. It's pretty common for players to "check out" in the low level games. But I've never once heard anyone complain about it or even mention it at all as bad etiquette. I think most players are happy that there is one less person in the hand who could possibly win the pot, so they don't mind at all.

Slow rolling and asking to see a hand are both bad etiquette as well, and people at the table always chime in about how that is bad etiquette. But checking out, I've never seen it. Of course, this is referring to in turn action, not OOT folding.

That's probably because most times it is one of the blinds "checking out" on the flop in a multiway pot, which is typically not a big deal. It's checking out on the river in a 3 way pot that is a -huge- deal.

It's definitely worse than slowrolling or asking to see a hand.
Those are poor etiquette. I believe folding to no bet is actually against the rules at most places, even though it may not be enforced.

There is a reason it's against the rules in tournaments. It gives information to the players acting after them that the players before did not have and can affect how the hand plays out.

Whether it's actually in the rulebook in many casinos I don't know. In practice it's rarely if ever enforced because players are happy to see someone fold and the dealers just want to keep the game moving and the players happy.

You shouldn't do it, but it's not worth raising a fuss over either. The player doing it is likely someone you want at your table.

That's no bigger a problem in tournaments than it is in cash games. Would be ridiculous to enforce it in one but not the other.

Many things are enforced in tournaments but not in cash games.

It is better to just check rather than fold , but this is really not a big deal to me as long as it is not out of turn.