Poker News

Tom ‘Time’ Leonard

As we continue our quest to be the best we can be on the green felt, today let’s discuss what is one of the most egregious errors that players make. The frequency in which I see this mistake being made may well be part of the “New Player Syndrome” that is certainly on the increase based upon the enormous influx of less experienced players entering the scene recently. However, I see experienced players making this mistake with surprising regularity. Yep, the title says it all…..cold calling raises…..and worse yet, with hands that barely deserve to call one bet never mind two or more. Cold calling is the act of calling more than one bet at once. If an opponent bets, then another player raises and you call both bets, you are cold calling. There are very few hands that it would be correct to cold call pre-flop in limit Hold’em and yet this is a common error made by many players.

How often do you see a player cold call from middle position with a marginal hand? When you see this occur take note because these are the weaker players you should be targeting. Poker is a situational game and a hand that you intend to raise with many times should become a folding hand in the face of a raise from a player who acts before you. Possessing the discipline to fold in this situation instead of moving into “chasing mode” and cold calling is an attribute of winning players. If your hand is not strong enough to re-raise with then it’s normally correct to fold. Patience in poker pays dividends. Why chase in an attempt to catch up when winning poker has much to do with entering the fray ahead of your opponents, not behind.

What makes this error so costly to players who are prone to fall prey to it is the frequency in which it is made. With 25 or so hands being dealt per hour and most pots being raised pre-flop you can see how frequently bets can be squandered by the less disciplined players among us. Another happenstance which some players use to justify cold calling raises is seeing at the showdown that the original raiser actually raised with a very marginal hand. So what…. that doesn’t mean you should cold call with one as well. Patience and discipline should be exercised as it will lead to selective aggression which in turn will translate to profit. Players who came to gamble and “mix it up” are especially prone to getting out of line in this manner. Examine your own motives for playing. If you profess your motive to be generating profit then don’t get out of line by cold calling raises preflop with marginal hands. If you’re just involved to gamble and lose some chips, well then have a ball and expect to do just that.

Our goal for this outing is to simply realize that when it is raised in front of you that you need to run the red flag up the pole and proceed accordingly……. with caution. You must narrow down the hands that would be worth a cold call Big Slick comes to mind but if you routinely cold call with hands like K-Q or an Ace weaker than A-K, then you’re just asking to have your stackacquired by the opposition. Faced with this situation you should probably make it three bets or fold. With folding being the prudent choice most often. See you next “TIME”.

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