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The Power Of The Call
By "Gavin Smith
One tactic I preach, which I believe is one of the most underrated aspects of No Limit Hold’em, is the power of calling with position, especially pre-flop. This can be a great tool to add to your arsenal. When most players will tell you a re-raise with position is the way to go, calling can be much more effective – a super-aggressive play in its own right.
If an opponent raises pre-flop, simply calling with a wide variety of hands is a great way to keep your opponent guessing. Essentially, your opponent is divulging information on his hand by raising, but you are giving absolutely no information by calling. Instead of being the guesser, you have put your opponent in a position to worry about what you are calling with.
There are times when you will be calling with A-Q, Q-Q or K-K, and there are plenty of other times when you will be calling with 7-4 off-suit and a wide variety of other crap hands. You could, in essence, be calling with anything. Since you usually miss the flop in Hold’em, you need to put your opponent to the test on the flop.
Say your opponent raised preflop and the board comes 9-6-3. The odds are he missed with his two big cards. Your opponent has no idea whether you called with crap or if you actually have a good hand. This could be an ideal spot to pick up a pot.
OK, so now let’s say you called preflop and caught a small piece of this nine-high board. Your opponent now leads out. Many players will raise in this situation, knowing their opponent probably missed. But again, I say a flat call is much more powerful. Your opponent is more likely to re-raise your bet on the flop with his two missed overcards than he is to fire a second barrel on the turn. Most players just don’t have enough brawn to fire again when you call them preflop and on the flop. It’s very difficult for your opponent to put any more money into the pot in this situation, and any pressure from you now is likely to take it down.
DEFENDING AGAINST THE CALL
As you become more experienced and play more poker, you will start to run into some opponents who are doing just what I have suggested – calling a lot pre-flop and not giving up much information. Your defense against this is to check the flop whether you hit it or not. Checking the flop gives you all sorts of options and, again, keeps your opponent guessing. Now your aggressive opponent is going to fire at the pot thinking you missed and you can check-raise him whether you have a hand or not. You could also flat call his bet on the flop to see if he has it in him to fire two barrels. If he doesn’t, you know that you can take this pot down with a little pressure. Again, you are forcing your opponent to make a very difficult decision, while giving out as little information on your hand as possible.
LIMPING ON THE BUTTON
Let’s say the action is folded round to you on the button. Most players look at this as a situation in which they must raise. Again, I beg to differ. I think limping on the button is a very valuable play. First off, an observant opponent may think you are slowplaying a monster. Secondly, you are committing far fewer chips, and you can probably still pick up the pot by using your position after the flop. This strategy is especially crucial in tournament play, when winning your fair share of blinds and antes is very important.
Winning at No Limit Hold’em is all about removing as much guesswork as possible. You want to make players commit a ton of chips when they have no idea what you have. By using the power of the call, you can gain very useful information, while protecting the identity of your own hand – and, hopefully, scooping a lot of pots.
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