Poker Articles

Calling

I don't call very often.  I don't think it is the "best" play possible out of the four options the highest percentage of the time.  I think betting is the highest percentage play, of course.  Second would be reraising, third would be folding. Lastly would be calling. 

Before I get carried away and sound like a total maniac that raises and reraises and never folds... let me assure that I do believe there is a right time to be a caller.  In another article I wrote (http://www.pocketfives.com/C1220161-9801-4930-97E9-C7F1B965E29D.aspx) I asked why anybody would want to be a caller, because it makes so much more sense to be a bettor.  While this holds true most of the time in No Limit Hold 'Em...there are definitely specific times where being a caller can also be beneficial.

A) Calling an aggressive player with barely anything, knowing that the tight image you have will force him to slow down on  the turn.  You must pick your spots and situations here, because it is a risky play just in case the aggressor actually has a real hand.  (This is why it helps to be the aggressor!)  But by just calling, a lot of times the aggressor will identify this as "smooth calling", meaning that your hand is better than his.  It will often force him to slow down, making it more
correct for you to raise big on the later street to take down a bigger pot, even without a hand.

B) Calling with a big hand preflop, in hopes of trapping your opponent to make a bet on the flop.  Say you are deal AA in  the SB, and an early position raiser has bumped it 4x.  You flat call here instead of raising him out of the pot.  You let him bet the flop, and maybe even smooth call again.  You may even do this twice more, but I would recommend usually check raising the flop or the turn in most cases.  But by just calling, this may win you more chips than it would by reraising him before the flop, because it might give him an excuse to fold a hand like JJ, or AQs for example - because you would have the lead in the hand from the SB.

C) Calling behind a preflop raiser with a marginal hand, using the basis of position as your reasoning.  You feel that you can outplay a player (even without being the preflop aggressor) if you have position on him, so you flat call to further  intimidate him.  This works especially well if you have been very aggressive all game, because it looks very suspicious that you would not be raising in that spot. 

D) Calling in a multiway pot with a pocket pair in hopes to hit a set.  Saying this, you must be prepared to dump an overpair to a board if the action calls for it.  Too many times, players will call with say 66 in the BB to 6 players in the pot.  The flop comes 245, and they jump for joy.  Don't assume that you have the best hand, just because you have an overpair.  Sure, this is a good flop for you, but you still must play the hand with caution.  I most likely don't want to get all my chips in on this board with that many people in the hand, even though I flopped an overpair - it is not a strong overpair, and can be beaten by a lot.

There are many more situations when calling is a good play, but being a bettor is almost always better.

-gidders