tjh
04-17-2005, 02:46 PM
These games were played on Ultimate Bet so I do not have easy access to the hand histories. Or perhaps I am too lazy to search through the whole SNG for them, regardless here is the observation/question.
We all play against calling stations at one time or another. My live tourneys locally are filled with them and SNG's have a few at each table. We all agree that the trouble with these people is that you can not bluff at them. I have a few observations that I would like to post for discussion.
You can bluff at the river
Enough of these Callers seem to be suffering from an unreasonable belief that their hand will improve. So they pay for one more card, only when there are no more cards left will they fold. This was a revelation to me, is it conventional wisdom here on 2+2 or do you folks just stay away from Calling stations without premium hands? It seems to me that in addition to the mistake of calling too much they also make the mistake of folding the river too much.
They have hidden strengths
I had a friend over, he wanted to play online poker. I set him up at a $22 UB SNG. I coached him but let him know it was his game to win or lose. I watched in absolute awe as he called 3 hands to the river with middle pair or top pair lame kicker and won! I do not know about you guys but if I am in kicker trouble or if I have middle pair, I either bet first to see where I am at, or if I have position I bet to steal, or fold depending on who acts before me. I just tend to take other folks bets at face value. Not that I do not believe that they are bluffing on occasion I just figure it is -EV to call them down with middle pair.
What can be learned ?
I do not know. Learning from the Calling Stations is not always good but it was interesting to see one in action right in front of my eyes. I learned that other players semi-bluff more than I thought. Lame hands can hold up.
In my home game tourneys everyone wants to see a flop, everyone calls. Loose Passive is the style, some Loose Aggressive. It is very hard for me to win these games. My friend is a calling station and he does very well there. He has some standards but very different from mine, he does better than me so I need to adjust.
So perhaps I need to read the Low Limit Holdem book to get a feel for these folks and the playing "style" . Any other advice ? How do you guys deal with the calling stations ? Please post real advice not just.. "tight aggressive play" although that more or less works for me /images/graemlins/smile.gif .It just seems like I could learn something from this. He took down three pots with lame hands and just by calling !
You know that sinking feeling when you bet and they call and a voice in your head sez " Calling station, I just wasted 200 chips ! " It would be nice to play back at these bets when I am on the other side of the bet. I guess the move would be called "trapping with lame hands " .
Then again this posts sounds like CRAZY-TALK. But like I said I saw it with my own two eyes !! I know he may have goten lucky that folks were bluffing at him, but like I said the same sort of situation rules at my home tourneys.
Thanks
--
tjh
We all play against calling stations at one time or another. My live tourneys locally are filled with them and SNG's have a few at each table. We all agree that the trouble with these people is that you can not bluff at them. I have a few observations that I would like to post for discussion.
You can bluff at the river
Enough of these Callers seem to be suffering from an unreasonable belief that their hand will improve. So they pay for one more card, only when there are no more cards left will they fold. This was a revelation to me, is it conventional wisdom here on 2+2 or do you folks just stay away from Calling stations without premium hands? It seems to me that in addition to the mistake of calling too much they also make the mistake of folding the river too much.
They have hidden strengths
I had a friend over, he wanted to play online poker. I set him up at a $22 UB SNG. I coached him but let him know it was his game to win or lose. I watched in absolute awe as he called 3 hands to the river with middle pair or top pair lame kicker and won! I do not know about you guys but if I am in kicker trouble or if I have middle pair, I either bet first to see where I am at, or if I have position I bet to steal, or fold depending on who acts before me. I just tend to take other folks bets at face value. Not that I do not believe that they are bluffing on occasion I just figure it is -EV to call them down with middle pair.
What can be learned ?
I do not know. Learning from the Calling Stations is not always good but it was interesting to see one in action right in front of my eyes. I learned that other players semi-bluff more than I thought. Lame hands can hold up.
In my home game tourneys everyone wants to see a flop, everyone calls. Loose Passive is the style, some Loose Aggressive. It is very hard for me to win these games. My friend is a calling station and he does very well there. He has some standards but very different from mine, he does better than me so I need to adjust.
So perhaps I need to read the Low Limit Holdem book to get a feel for these folks and the playing "style" . Any other advice ? How do you guys deal with the calling stations ? Please post real advice not just.. "tight aggressive play" although that more or less works for me /images/graemlins/smile.gif .It just seems like I could learn something from this. He took down three pots with lame hands and just by calling !
You know that sinking feeling when you bet and they call and a voice in your head sez " Calling station, I just wasted 200 chips ! " It would be nice to play back at these bets when I am on the other side of the bet. I guess the move would be called "trapping with lame hands " .
Then again this posts sounds like CRAZY-TALK. But like I said I saw it with my own two eyes !! I know he may have goten lucky that folks were bluffing at him, but like I said the same sort of situation rules at my home tourneys.
Thanks
--
tjh