When folding or raising is better than calling?

Decision time: fold, call, or raise? I've read in several places where situations call for folding or raising and calling is worse. Can someone explain these situations and how it all works. Thanks.

hillcrest,


Well, I don't know if I have the time or talent to explore all the possible situations in which calling is your worst option. You can read Sklansky's excellent essay "The Eight Mistakes of Poker" in the Essays part of the 2+2 webpage. Other authors have written about this exact topic. I remember Andy Nelson's axiom "Raise or fold. A caller loses money." It's good advice. Calling is your worst option in many cases.


The #1 mistake of most LL players is that they call too much....especially when they should be folding. I've seen some questionable calls, and I've seen several ridiculous calls, from pre-flop to showdown. It is these types of loose calls that the better poker players at the tables take advantage of and make money from. Many players will call with any two cards before the flop. When the flop misses them completely, they still call...hoping for a miracle. They call when they are obviously beaten.


Clearly, this player is taking much the worst of it against a player who has decent starting hand requirements and can release a hand against an unfavorable flop. Yes, they can and do win occasionally. If they never won, they would never play poker...just like slots and roulette players would never play those games if they never won. In many of those cases, folding is clearly preferable to calling. Saving your money is just as good as winning money...it all adds to the bottom line.


Raising is also often preferred to calling for good reasons. One example I try to think of when I'm playing is this: suppose I have top pair with a medium kicker on the flop. There are four players involved in the hand. The player in front of me bets. Even if I suspect that he has top pair/better kicker or better, I SHOULD NOT CALL. If I call, it will encourage the players behind me to stay in with draws for a single bet. If I fold, then I'm done with the hand. In instances like these, I am more likely to raise in an attempt to knock the draw hands out and get heads-up with the bettor. It's mostly a percentage play...by knocking out the drawing hands, I will have a greater chance of winning the hand than if I allow them to stay for a single bet. If they do stay in, they are getting reduced odds for their drawing hands because they have to pay two bets rather than one. Their calling could be a mathematical error.


It also discourages the bettor from betting into me in future rounds. This gives me the option of betting or checking to see a free card if I need one. It may also make the bettor fold. If he reraises, I can then put him on a hand better than top pair and decide what to do from there. Many LL players don't like to raise, even when they should. This is another mistake that good players like to take advantage of.


There are too many hands and situations to explore here....most of knowing when to fold, raise, and call comes from table experience. The "fold or raise" principle comes from the "tight-aggressive" approach...which almost every good poker player agrees is the best (only?) approach to regularly winning. Playing tight means not playing many hands to begin with and being able to fold when you know you're beaten. Playing aggressive means that when you do have a hand, you try to take control of the situation and make the other players pay to stay with you.

There is a classic "Raise or Fold" situation that comes up in hold'em. It is when you are on the button and everyone folds to you. If you are going to play, you should open with a raise. Open-limping from the button is non-sensical.


There is another situation where you should almost always raise. It is when you are a new player in the game, post a late position blind behind the button, and everyone folds to you. You should raise regardless of what you have. Of course, you should go through the charade of looking at your cards so that your opponents don't realize what you are doing.

So "plunk" comes the river card and you miss your flush but snag 2nd pair. There are 4 of you and there was a raise B4 and on the flop. The player to your right retains the lead and bets the river. Now he will bluff "fairly" often and you have the right odds to call HIM, but if he doesn't have top pair its VERY likely one of the other two does, and will over-call.


Raising in this spot can shut out an over-call leaving you affectively "calling" 2 bets against the bettor; which is often reasonably profitable.


Betting or raising usually increases your chances of winning the pot, and it doesn't have to happen often to be correct.


- Louie

Here's a situation where I made the mistake of calling. I'm on the button. UTG is too loose and tries to buy the pot too much. I've got over cards to the flop. It's checked to me. I bet. UTG raises. It's folded to me. I called with my overcards. I should have re-raised. This would have been a small bet. UTG bet into me on the turn (I didn't hit an overcard). But I called. UTG bet into me on the river. I folded when I didn't improve. Had I re-raised on the flop, I'm certain UTG would have checked to me on the turn - I would have checked for the free card. I would have saved myself one small bet. I still don't know if UTG had anything. But had I re-raised, he may have even released his hand right then and I would have dragged a small pot instead making a bigger pot for him. My play was weak I thought. But this is low-limit so I'm sure no one even noticed how weak my play was.


There's other cases, but they're much harder to explain. But when I reflect back on one hand today(hopefully not using results analysis), had my hand reading skills been better I would have realized that the caller was on overcards on the turn. Had I raised the weak player on my right. The overcards player would have had to call two big bets on the turn. He likely would have folded. When a K hits the river, it's checked around. Overcards player had AKo and took it down. I had top pair - top kicker on the flop. I would have taken it down if overcards player wasn't in!