Cold Calling

[jackfrost]

And sen,the topic isn't why is cold calling a heinous act, he simply said he understands aggression but it seems like there are times when cold calling would be correct, and he is right.

[bernie]

No one mentioned position relative to the preflop raiser?

The closer the raiser is on your right, meaning no one in between, the more you want to 3 bet. The more opponents in between, then coldcalling can become more of an option.

b

[SA125]

The answer to your question lies in what hands you coldcall with. Hands with good implied odds that play well multi-way, like pairs and suited connectors, are considered acceptable for coldcalling. Hands that are usually dominated, like Axo-KQo-etc., are not.

The other factor that determines whether it was a good call is how many were in the pot when you called. If you're going for implied odds, you need others in. You don't want to be the first coldcaller with T9s unless you're sure others will come along.

[Victor]

the main reason coldcalling sucks is because the hands that lend themselves to it are usually dominated. kq, aj, kj, a10 etc. are all usually dominated by a preflop raiser. playing dominated hands is a good way to go broke.

of course this does not always apply, and it is often correct to coldcall with pocket pairs so long as the pot is multiway.

superstrong hands like aa, kk and ak are better to 3bet because you have such a strong equity advantage (not to "get people out")

[xpokerx]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't get me wrong, i very rareley cold call, but I strongly disagree with this comment pertaining to this arguement. People seem to think that there preflop play is the most important aspect of there game and that couldn't be further from the truth.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, I totally understand what you are saying. However, you are missing my point. I did not mean to infer that cold calling is ALWAYS wrong, but I meant to infer that it is VERY rarely right.

The FACT is that when you cold call preflop too much you make it VERY difficult to win, even with solid play post flop.

[ QUOTE ]
With bad starting requirements you will lose, but good players realize not to play bad hands and to stay out of the pot when it is likely that you are dominated. When I first went pro I was much more passive on the flop but still managed to turn a hefty profit.

[/ QUOTE ]

I understand. Basically my point was that by NOT cold calling often you take the chances of hitting really good second best hands down a couple notches. It makes it easier to make a profit when you don't make a fundamental (theory of poker) mistake by calling a hand you should have folded preflop.

[ QUOTE ]
I've actually experimented with several playing styles and they all turn a profit, this is because I have the ability to play the flop and later betting rounds well. If you are cold calling with bad or dominated hands this very well could be the worst leak, but this topic isn't about cold calling with dominated hands, it's about how to play your premium and other profitable hands against a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

While that may be true I simply wanted to reinforce the fact that cold calling is a pretty weak play. It should not be done often. I believe I have done it once in my last 5k hands online.

[dfan]

Question: Occasionally in some of the crazier 1/2 6-max games a "bet-em-up" player will raise preflop 60-80% of the time and the other players will often tend to call - maybe 4 seeing the flop on average. It seems that in some of these games it's almost like everyone is playing blinds plus a 1 or 2 sb ante.

Also the raiser is not indicating a strong hand with his raise so that reduces the danger of being dominated. And if you follow the usual guidelines for seldom coldcalling you will be sitting out 90% of the hands or reraising with hands you would normally limp with. And if you wait for a decent hand to raise with-- well usually eveyone folds instantly when you enter.

So what are the implications of this type of game for when you should consider cold-calling? I know there is a lot of money to be made when this kind of action is going on. I just don't know the strategy for these game conditions.

[Dov]

Usually reraise or fold.

The only exception to this might be a PP or a suited connector, but I wouldn't want to go lower than 89 anyway. (I still prefer to 3 bet with hands as weak as 66)

It's not a bad thing to have everyone fold when you 3 bet, especially after some people have already called.

I feel that it is important in games like this to make people realize that when you are in the pot, they will have to pay a lot to see the hand to the end.

This will make them more likely to fold against you, so that when you whiff with AK, you still have some fold equity.

Otherwise you have to play hit to win.

What you describe is one of the best game conditions available.

BTW, just because it's raise or fold (basically) does not mean you shouldn't be in a lot of hands. You should still be around 30% vpip, but just ramp up the aggression. Many of the pots will be large and you want to win them right away.

I have been playing a lot of shot handed lately, so some of this may be too aggressive for a full game, ESPECIALLY VPIP. Sorry, but I don't have time to rewrite this right now.