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When can you fold? A basic poker rule is that a fold out of turn is not allowed. Even though no penalty is prescribed by law, it is clearly a breach of ethics, and a habitual violator may be barred for this behavior.
From an old Bob Ciaffone article:
When Can You Fold? -Bob Ciaffone
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Thank you! That is a very good article on the topic and is the best justification for a rule disallowing the "check out" that I have seen. However, even Ciaffone recognizes it is not such a big deal to check out if you are the first or last to act in a betting round. He writes:
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Here is an exaggerated example (one I have never seen in real life) of how this fold could be damaging to someone else. Suppose that in a fivehanded pot, you act first and check. Player two folds, player three folds, player four folds, and the button bets. Surely, he is more likely to bet here than if the whole field were still in. If he does bet, you do not know if he took advantage of those folds or has a real hand. You have been damaged, and the button helped, by players folding who were not facing a bet. Seeing three players fold makes the damage obvious, but if even one player folds, it is measurable. So, the only logical view of this behavior is that it is bad ethics to fold when not facing a bet if all of the players do not receive the same information on that betting round. By this rule, you can fold if first to act or if last to act, but not otherwise. (I am aware that it is possible to construct a situation in which the previous betting means one player will be helped more than another, even when you fold while acting first or last, but this would be quite unusual.)
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And I agree.