Dave,
I'm going to copy and paste Mike Bishop's earlier reply (#4) on this thread: "Not sure what it is you don't like. Rule 53 specifically says that folding when not facing a bet is a violation subject to penalty. Like all penalties, that is left up to the TD. A penalty is not enough.
Seemingly you would like to add to the rule that all hands so discarded must be tabled face up at the end of the hand? YES I would! Not sure you'll get majority support on that one. It requires a new layer of complexity that alot of people will find tedious. Why not put it to a vote? OTOH, if a TD truly suspects that such discard is suspicious, of course the TD can retain and inspect the hand, but why make it an automatic requirement. Most of these folds are newbie errors; What about when it's a seasoned player? for example, a classic one being where the newbie is in the BB, there's no raise and when the action returns to the BB the newbie inexplicably tosses his cards. The rule makes clear that such actions are binding, i.e. that the hand cannot be returned to the discarding player. In fact that is the scenario that gave rise to the rule in the first place." A ridiculous reason to kill a potential winner's hand, who is in for all bets and releases his hand! Chip dumping? I'd say YES, there's a good reason to believe it is possible. Why not erase that suspicion? I'll tell you this, when I'm dealing a tournament, if the BB attempts to fold without facing a raise pre-flop...I will attempt to push his cards back to him (one time) and remind him that he's already in. Sorry, that's the right way to handle the situation.