The Calling Instinct

[FredJones888]

I have read in several places that the average poker player wants to call, wants the action. I think this is true from my experience so far. My problem is that I experience this desire myself. Do good poker players not have this instinct or is there some kind of trick to beat it ?

[OrangeHeat]

I used to love to call. Now for some reason I get alot more satisfaction from folding or raising. Calling is passive your not challenging anyone or wimping out - pretty easy path.

I'm not sure how to get around it other than to start folding or raising more often and watch your bankroll grow. Calling all the time is a losing play.

Now when I fold with the worst of it or raise with the best of it I think of my imaginary "EV" bank growing.

I think confidence also has alot to do with this. Once your confident in your playing abilities it's alot easier to raise which says to the table "Here I am - I am in control". When your just starting you feel like calling as you are not ready to challenge those around you as you are uncertain whether you have the skill to do so.

Also some people just want to see the next card - it is a str8 up gamble to them.

Orange

[Al Schoonmaker]

It's a perfectly natural feeling. It's boring to fold. You and I and nearly everyone wants to play.
Winning players learn how to control that feeling. In fact, if you don't learn how to control it, you have little chance of winning.
You will certainly get some suggestions about ways to control it. I'd like to tell you one that Mark Gregorich told our discussion group. He has a firm rule: If he is first into an Omaha or HE pot, he raises. He said it keeps him from playing marginal and sub-marginal hands. Mark is a fine player, and his advice makes a lot of sense. David Skalnsky put it this way: Raise or fold becauase a caller is a loser.
Regards,
Al

[FredJones888]

calling is definitely my fish trait and I have discovered that it comes out when I am either tired, bored, or have just taken a bad beat. From now on I think when I start calling everything its time to leave the table.

[baggins]

calling isn't always the worst play.

however, it's not a confident play. calling says 'I think my hand may be good enough to contest the pot, but I'm not sure enough to raise and get more money in for my winning hand.'

If you were more confident in your plays and your reads, you'd be raising or folding more than calling. If you are confident you have the best of it, and want to stay in the pot, then you might as well make it a big pot that you are likely to win. If you are confident that your hand can't win, or you don't have the odds to be in the pot, then fold. some cases where you call on a draw, or limp with suited connectors in a loose passive game, or call hoping for overcallers behind you - those cases warrant calling, sure. But raise/fold is more clean, more confident, more final.

If you raise or fold considerably more than you 'just call' then you will gain more attention at your table. your presence will be driving the mood at the table, you will be in command. although there may be situations where you want to blend in and not stand out too much, it is not a bad thing to have the table fear you in this way.

think about it this way -

If your opponents played with their cards exposed, but you didn't, would you be more likely to call call call? or to be raising or folding? that's simple FTOP stuff right there.