Re: Cold Calling
Dov lists some pretty good reasons not to cold call (though I would say her reasons are a lot more applicable to NL and or tournament play), but misses the most important reason of all.
Simply put, most starting hands do not offer a positive return on investment if you have to pay 2SB to see a flop.
There are relatively few starting hands that make enough money, in the long run, to show a positive return on a two small bet investment. For example, you will win a huge pot (most of the time) when you make a set of threes with 3c3d -- but the pot just wont be huge enough to offset all the other times you muck your hand on the flop or the turn.
Are there hands that can still show a positive return on a 2SB investment? Sure, especially in a game with a lot of players seeing the flop (SSHE's late position, loose game reccomendations, for example, reccommend cold calling with any pocket pair below TT and a wide variety of suited aces and connectors provided there are sufficient limpers.)
jc
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The main reasons why cold calling is so bad are:
1. You do not force your opponent to make a decision. Therefore, he cannot make another mistake. If he does make a mistake, it will cost him another bet, not the whole pot.
2. You do not gain any information about your opponent's hand. When you reraise someone, you are defining your hand strongly. Their reaction to this is often genuine.
3. It is more difficult to win without hitting your hand. If you suddenly wake up at the end of the hand, your opponent will likely be suspicious and call you down. This makes it much more difficult to bluff your way out of a bind. (This kind of play is opponent specific anyway, but needs to be set up in the early betting rounds as well as prior hands.)
This all assumes a limit game, BTW. Cold calling is not as bad in NL - but it still depends on your opponents...
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