Why Call When You Can Raise?
This is a fairly easy concept to understand yet so often ignored by beginning players and even some seasoned players that I’ve played against. It applies to tournaments and cash games alike. It’s either fold or raise, never call – that’s the mantra that the top poker players all abide by.
Very often I see a lot of limp-call plays, while this could be a viable strategy in certain situations, limp-calling is almost a sure way to gradually lose your money at a poker table.
Limp-calling a preflop raise is a weak play, especially if you’re out of position to the aggressor. This will get you into a lot of trouble and here are a few reasons why:
1) It costs a player more money/chips on the ensuing streets to continue in the hand. So by limp calling you might hit a hand where it’s hard to escape from thus costing you a lot of money. For example we’re playing 1/2 NL and you hold A/10 and you limp from MP, you get a raise of $8 from LP and you call. The flop comes out 10xx. You put in a continuation bet of $10 and get raised $15. Now you’re in a tight situation. You decide to call as you’ve invested a lot of money in this hand already. The turn is a blank. You want to bet out again but don’t want to be re-raised so you just check. The bandit fires out $25. You reluctantly fold. Or worse case scenario you call all the way to the river and see that the bandit had had you beat all the way through.
Putting this in perspective, you could’ve raised preflop to $6 and then release your hand if you’ve been re-popped thus saving you a lot of aggravation and money.
2) You’re allowing other players to see flops cheaply. You’re in EP with a decent spec hand like 5/6 spades for example. You decide to limp in and two players call and the SB and BB come along for the ride. This is a bad spot. You’re in a multiway pot and in middle position with a marginal hand. If you had raise pre-flop most likely you’d be facing a smaller field which gives your fold equity a better chance to come through.
3) You lose fold equity. If you’re the first one to raise a pot then it’s all eyes on you. Players will be aware of this and you can control the pot especially if you’re in position. On the flip side, players will give you credit for a big hand if you’re raising in EP and this gives you the advantage of controlling the pot from OOP. Of course there are times when you can limp-call a raise depending on the situation (trapping for example) but more often than not it’s the exception rather than the rule. Additionally, by being the aggressor it increases your chances of bluffing out an opponent.
4) You disguise your hand. Good aggressive poker can help offset a cold run of cards. If you’re raising with spec hands and people are folding to you, you increase your chances of dragging a huge pot when you finally get a monster. Sooner or later, a player is going to play back at you and most likely it will be a hand that’s not as strong because you’ve been raising do damn much. Or you can be aggressive with a marginal hand and hit the flop hard, which can bust a big PP. The reason why you’re playing spec hands is to try and snag a huge pot if the flop hits just right. By raising you’re already building the pot for your spec hand, plus it gives you extra ways to win the pot (bluffing for example). You can’t do this by limping in or limp calling.
5) You’re bleeding chips. By constantly limping or limp calling you’re slowly bleeding away your chips. You can’t rely on hitting hands to win pots, you have to utilize raising to win some pots as well.
6) Getting outplayed on ensuing streets. Very good players know how to play the flop, turn and the river. They’re experts at reading your hand, knowing when to push and knowing when to value bet. If you’re a relatively new player and have trouble outplaying players post flop, on the turn or at the river, then being aggressive PF is a way to offset your inexperience playing post flop, turn and river. Good tight players will fold to a good PF flop bet but if you’re limping or limp-calling then you’re giving the more experienced, more talented player the advantage and they will take advantage of this.
These are just a few reasons why playing passively pre-flop can get you into trouble. I’m sure there are other reasons why limping or limp calling is such a poor strategy.
Of course there are situations that you can limp or limp call and mixing up your play is essential but the frequency that you’re limping or limp calling should be less than your raising frequency. I would say a 70-30 mix is a good starting point.
Related posts:
- Slow Playing Aces
- Target on My Back
- Playing Aggressively at Micro Stakes Tables Against Passive/Weak Players
- A Hand From My Home Game
- Time to Change My Style
Categories: Poker Strategy
