Cold Calling

I just recently signed up for PT3 free trial. I was wondering what is a good percentage range to be in for cold calls? Or being in position should you reraise more than cold calling? I know this is kind of general and broad but I also know it can be good to cold call soemtimes against an opponent. I look forward to the thoughts expressed and thanks for your help.

Cold call just about never imo. Against a table maniac it can be a tool to allow him to hang himself. If there's already 2-3 cold callers in the pot and you have position and a hand that plays well against larger fields (pocket pairs, suited connectors, etc), or you can end the betting round with a call and the rest of the above applies, then it can be profitable. Yet still, good rule of thumb is don't.

Cold call % is one of the stats I look at for a fish/calling station (especially in limit games). If you see a player that is 15% cold calling hands, label him as money at the table.

It might not be such a good idea to think a certain range of cold calls is necessarily good for everyone. As already pointed out, it's situational. To expand on that somewhat, you can impact how often such situations are likely to occur through, for example, table / opponent selection.

*insert link to c9's thread about not worrying about stats here*

I used to think that I should rarely just call, but there are times when pot control is ok IMO. When you have a decent but not great hand like medium pair or top pair weak kicker, I don’t think it’s that great to build up the pot as you will fold bluffs and would be in a tough spot against villain who reraises you. (But, against people who’d called with anything of course bet and bet)

I used to not respect bets enough and raised a lot and got caught building up big pots when I should have just kept the pot size small. Now that I am mixing up calling and raising, my results have been better.

(That is not to say that I am just calling all the time. I am mixing up play, but I am flat calling more than I used to do. I am catching more bluffs by needing to call much smaller bets and I am able to float and steal more pots on the turn.)