Learn Texas Holdem

Top 3 Beginner Rooms

• $10 bonus at Colt Poker Free $10
• $10 bonus at Cake Poker Free $10
• $400 bonus at Minted Poker

I judge myself to be more of an analytical player whose weakness is in the more psychologically part of the game. I am however optimistic in my ability to increase my skills and I believe it is possible for me to compensate for my weaknesses by applying other areas of strength.

The question regards only no limit holdem (both ring games and tournaments).

For what reasons should you call rather than fold or raise post flop?

I find it easier to make this decision in a full game, especially in a multiway pot, since in that case one usually just considers the pot odds. But in a short handed game, particularly in a heads up confrontation, the odds will almost never make a call with only a draw the correct move.

It seems to me that only in the cases where you know your opponent to be drawing dead, would you be correct to keep him in the pot by not raising. But of course it would be obvious you were holding a monster then, if only you called on those occasions.

So, I guess what I'm asking, is for some ideas to wary my play by calling a bet on the flop in cases where I'd ordinarily either fold a marginal hand or reraise with a hand that I knew was probably ahead, but that was in risk of being outdrawn.

I should mention that I occasionally play in short handed live games against pretty decent players, who play *very* aggressively and also very creatively. I am constantly in fear of giving them free cards, since they are as likely to bet any kind of a draw as well as any type of made hand. I think short handed poker is the hardest to master for an analytical player such as myself. I'm constantly struggling to strike a balance between not getting run over by the other players and not being able to slow down at all.

/Adam L., Copenhagen DK.

Answer:

Thanks for the question Adam.

I can answer your question in one word: value. I can understand where you are coming from. To put things into context, most poker books frown on calling. The idea is that either you have a hand worthy of raising or you should fold; that is way to black and white to be of any use; real poker needs shades of gray. First of all, let's make a distinction between hands where you have many opponents and hands where you have only one or two opponents. The more opponents in the hand, the greater the chance of your hand getting run down. Also, the weaker of the hand you have, say only a pair like TT, the greater the chance that it will get run down. In these situations, it is better to play more aggressively with the best hand and try to limit some of the opponents, so there aren't as many hands out there drawing against yours. On the other hand with only a couple or especially one opponent, the chance of you getting drawn out on is much less. An important part of playing winning no limit holdem is getting value on your good hands. Getting value on your hands means you bet paid off, you get some chips. To take it to a logical extreme, imagine how your bankroll would look if you went all-in on the flop everytime when you had a good hand; you wouldn't make anything because your opponents could easily dodge your good hands. When you play you are constantly trying to strike a balance between letting them in for too cheaply and not protecting the hand, trying to make some money on it, and protecting it too much and chasing away the customers. Let's go through a few examples and explain why I would play the hand a certain way:

- JJ - I raise preflop in a loose shorthanded game and get called in three spots. The flop is Ten high with a flush draw. One opponent comes out betting and another calls before the action gets to me. What I am thinking at this point is that my JJ can easily get run down if a Q, K, A or a flush gets there. I'm going to raise some here and make it incorrect for everyone to call except for the flush draw. I would only go all-in if I knew that there was a chance that someone would call me with a hand I could beat. In a tournament, it would be a mistake to go all-in here just on the off chance someone did have you beat already or had a flush draw and called. A better plan would be to make a decent sized raise on the flop, that can get called, then go all-in or make a substantial bet on the turn card to shut out a flush draw, after you've seen that it didn't hit. There is a big difference between a flush draw having both the turn and river to complete and only having the river. I would also be taking into account the size of the pot. Generally speaking, the larger the pot is already, the quicker you should be to win it and not slow play. The raise on the flop isn't so much done to chase away the guy with top pair, its just done to get more money in the pot and make him pay. On the turn you can shut him out if you like and you still end up making some money with the hand. The raise should be large enough to get heads up, by driving out the other opponents.

- AK - You raise preflop and hit a K on the flop against one opponent. He is very aggressive and comes out firing at you, or after you bet he check raises you. You aren't really worried with this hand. The goal is value. Since there is only one opponent, the chance of him out drawing you (if you aren't already beat) is so slim that you'll take that chance to potentially bust him and make a big pot. In no limit holdem, I like to base my raising and calling around the idea of committing a player. A player becomes committed when they've invested so much in the pot that folding isn't an option anymore. In this case I would slow play. I would just call the flop bet and let him lead out on the turn. On the turn I would double his bet. Again, the point isn't to drive him out by raising too much. I'm not concerned with protection, only value. A player with top pair here is going to have a hard time folding. Most likely he will call the bet. Then on the river after he is very invested, you put in a big bet. You will probably get paid off by a weaker King.

I was going to keep listing examples here but I don't think that's the best way of explaining this. I've listed two different situations that loosely represent the situations you'll find yourself in: hands that can be run down easily and need protection and ones that don't. You can expand the examples above like putting a hand like QT with a T high flop as a hand that could get run down or A4 on an Ace high flop as one that isn't in risk of getting drawn out on. As you get down to fewer players, as in heads up and shorthanded play, you are less and less concerned with protection and more with value. A hand like J9 on a Jack high flop heads up is a monster. See the important part to playing well in short games and heads up is to be able to reevaluate what you consider a great hand. Top pair is a godsend in heads up play. The worst thing you could do is chase away your business. Reel him in some before pulling the trigger.

There are other times to just flat call too. The above examples are when you assume you have the best hand. There are plenty of times that you think you may not have the best hand. A call is a way that you can keep the size of the pot smaller and still be able to show the hand down. Let's say that you have middle pair at the final table, heads up against an aggressive player. The flop is something like 9-6-3 and you have K6. Sure you may have the best hand and you don't want to lose it by him drawing out, but at the same time a raise doesn't accomplish your goals. Often times in situations like this against an aggressive player your raise will either make him fold a that you can beat (which isn't a good thing), or he reraises you and puts you in a tough spot (also not a good thing), or he reraises you and beats you with a better hand (another bad thing). You can just call him. By calling him down you may make him keep betting a worse hand. In no limit holdem, one thing pros do very well is keep the pot smaller in situations like this and then larger when they have a good hand. They play big pots with good hands and smaller pots with not so good hands. And a call works well for keeping the pot smaller.

Next, you mentioned draws in relation to shorthanded play and heads up play and how it was never correct to just call. I'm not sure if I agree with that. First of all, not every draw you get will be one that you'll want to continue with. Sometimes you can just call to see turn and if you miss, you can bail before having to pay too much. Next, against certain opponents, a raise semi-bluff is completely useless. What you are trying to accomplish by raising the flop with a flush draw heads up is to increase your chances of winning the hand by potentially making the opponent fold, in addition to maybe making the flush. The problem is though that against very aggressive opponents, or very bad ones that call too much, semi-bluffs like this lose their value because the guy will either call you, nullifying your extra chance produced by the raise, or he will reraise you, which is even worse because you don't to play for all your chips. A call may even have some advantage too against a good player. A call can mean many things. He might bet the flop and then after you called, check, giving you some information and opportunities -- free card, or bluffing, etc. Also, you want to mix up your play some so that opponents can't read you so well. If you only raise your good hands postflop, yet you call and raise your monsters later in the hand, that gives away too much info. A better approach is to sometimes raise the flop, while other times waiting and raising the turn. By doing this is makes your opponents question your flop play and when they are out of position it puts them at a greater disadvantage. See now, a call could mean anything: you have a great hand, you have nothing, you have a draw, you have a decent hand, etc.

Lastly, be more likely to flat call bets when you are in position, sitting behind the opponent(s). Since in the rest of the hand you can see what they do first, you can play a little more loosely.

Your rating:

User Rating: (1 Votes)

• Share on Facebook
• Print
• Digg
• Del.icio.us