Calling Raises Preflop In No Limit Texas Hold’em
In the last article I discussed the reasons why you should raise and not call preflop in No-Limit Texas Hold’em. In this article the focus is on the special cases when the call is reasonable.
Small pairs and suited connectors. These hands play well if the players at the table have deep stacks and many of them have entered the pot. Small pairs and suited connectors will not hit the flop very often but when they do hit you can win a large pot. You can crack aces and kings with such hands because your opponents will not put you on trips or straights easily. I still advise you to not play suited connectors too often because many times you will lose a little money and even if you hit your hand, there is no guarantee that other players will pay you out. The few times you hit you have to compensate for your losses for all the other times. The huge advantage of small pairs and suited connectors is that it is relatively easy to fold these hands on the flop when they do not hit.
Keep weak players in play (intending sometimes to reraise). This is quite logical. If you bet/raise with strong hands maybe you scare away many players. If you are sure that someone will raise, just go ahead and make the call. When it is your turn again you can decide to make a trap play and only call or make a reraise. Calling is great when there are only 1-2 opponents in the hand. If there are more callers then I advise you to make a 3bet. Calling against many opponents is too dangerous because someone might hit the flop and you can lose a very large pot. It is better to make a squeeze play and reduce the number of players.
Defending your blind. You have to give up your blinds often enough but with strong hands you can make a call. If you only call, your opponents will take it as a sign of weakness and they will not put you on a monster hand. You can take advantage of that later in the hand and keep your bets/raises for the turn or river.
Limping/calling with marginal hands on a loose table. If the other players are too loose then it is harder to make a good bluff. This means you will have a tough time making your opponents lay down their hands. In such cases it makes sense to call/limp with marginal hands like KQ suited or AT unsuited in middle position. You should probably not 3bet with middle pairs if you know that some players will call behind you anyway.
You are in position and want to see a cheap pot. What happens when you have a marginal hand and you are in late position? This is a perfect situation for making a call. Although your hand is not too strong you have position on your opponents and it will be a lot easier on the flop to evaluate your situation.
I hope these tips help you to make decisions in your preflop game. In case you are interested in playing poker, get the best sign-up offers.
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