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Know When to Fold 'Em
 Many a hero has felt this sentiment.
"You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealing's done."
— Kenny Rogers, "The Gambler"
An Aesop having to do with how You Can't Fight Fate. Knowing when to just let go is a useful skill (which is probably why it is the final of The Thirty-Six Stratagems). Sometimes possible to tell that to the Determinator. The Fatalist, on the other hand, is quite aware of this wisdom. The Determinator, if presented as flawed, will rarely if ever know when to back down, even when it would be beneficial; a Determinator who refuses to back down from a hopeless battle and gets their ass kicked is a very common (and easy) way to show that the threats are getting bigger and that simple iron-willed resolve does absolutely nothing against someone who can jelly you in seconds and shrug off your very worst. A Combat Pragmatist, however, thinks differently, and would see that sort of attitude as foolhardy; he'll fight as long as he can (and fights dirty), but flees if in actual danger; quitting while they're ahead also sometimes happens, with the rationale usually being that they are not going to survive a prolonged fight and would be better off using a temporary advantage as a means of getting the hell out of there. Compare You Were Trying Too Hard, which is about situations where folding somehow causes you to win the pot. Serial villains in general owe a large part of their Joker Immunity to making escapes at the end of the encounter to appear in another. Good exit timing makes more formidable enemies than escaping a Cardboard Prison. See also Screw This, I'm Outta Here!; Villain: Exit, Stage Left!; Opt Out; I Surrender, Suckers; Graceful Loser; I Will Fight No More Forever; Run or Die; Switch Out Move; Sensing You Are Outmatched; Tactical Withdrawal. Contrast Sunk Cost Fallacy, which this trope tries to avoid, and Surrender Backfire. Compare/Contrast Dirty Coward and Rage Quit; which are more emotion-driven while Knowing when to Fold 'Em is strategically based.


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Alternative Title(s): Know When To Fold Them
