What is cold calling, and why should I care ?

I am trying to plug some spread eagle holes in my game. I have learned about position and check-raising (thanks to Ed Miler) but have encountered a forum post where someone says "The biggest leak that beginners have by far is that they cold call" He then goes on to say that we should stop cold calling, and if we did, we would find that we would stop losing money. Searches of the forums I have signed up for reveal many post *about* cold calling, but nothing that states what cold calling *is*. Can someone please explain ?

Cold call examples -
UTG bets 3.5xBB, folds to you on the CO, you call
Folds around to CO who bets 3xBB, BTN folds, you, in SB, calls.

Generally you want to either raise or fold, calling is most often the worse of the 3 to do.

I see.... At the moment, I have spent all of my "poker" time this week studying and reviewing hands, trying to plug the holes. This cold calling is something I have done very often; I hope I can stop throwing away money when i stop. Thanks for the info !

Thanks, i did not know that. I think i do that a bit tooo much.

It seems like cold calling with good, but not premium hands, is often the safest course of action. Maybe that's a problem with my game, but I'd rather call with 10's, JJ, QQ, KQ, AJ, or AQ than push too hard and find myself up against a bigger pair or a bigger kicker.

It sure seems to me that too many players bet all their chips on marginal hands before the flop, perhaps to take the after-flop decisions out of their hands. Which just adds to the frustrations of everyone who loses to a lucky draw with the best hand.

By the way, I don't really play KQ that often, but I sure lose to it a lot.

cold calling is probably one of the hardest things for most people to get away from. it has the mentality of "if i could just see this next card" or "i'm sure i've won and i'll be sneaky this way"...and it works out sometimes; either way it lets everyone know you're playing your cards (or hoping for an out) more than you should be.

I get your logic, and used to think this myself. fwiw, here's another way to think through the situation.

Let's say you're SB w JJ and CO opens for 4xBB. CO appears to be smart and aggressive, and has shown down a premium hand or two when he opens, and has shown down a speculative hand or two when he opens. So, based on what we've seen, let's say his open from CO represents 55+, 87s+, 97s+, alot of suited A's, and broadway cards. Your JJ are actually, on average, better than what he's representing with his opening range - hurrah!

So let's say we cold call in SB, and the flop is A72r. What do we do now? Are we calling 3 streets to see if our JJ is good? This is why everybody hates playing JJ, right?

Instead, let's say we 3bet preflop to 13xBB.

The first bit of good news is that CO will fold most of the hands I listed above, and you immediately win the pot (yay!). Notice that, if the range I gave CO is accurate, the majority of the time you will win money doing this.

The second bit of good news is that he'll probably only 4bet you with a range of hands that is better than JJ, say QQ+,AK (the range depends on the specific villain, but this is typical of microstakes), so you can now fold and only lose 13BB's (that sounds like a lot, but imagine how much you'll invest in the pot if you call 3 streets postflop to see if your JJ are good).

The third bit of good news is that if he calls, you now have the initiative in the hand (of course, we're oop, which totally sucks, but whatever) - CO will be reacting to your actions postflop, so you can be the aggressor if the board warrants it. By calling, CO has also told you he doesn't have the worst hands I listed above (he would've folded), and probably doesn't have the premium hands either (w QQ+, AK he would've 4bet), so you also have a better idea of what he's holding.

Ive found the best way to play at lower limits is just straight up, abc poker. value bet or toss it.

I'm not sure if this one in bold above is cold-calling. Maybe, since it's half a bet. But cold-calling is calling a raise after another bet has already been made. I think the blinds count as that first bet. Certainly calling in the BB is not a cold-call unless you are facing two raises. Am I right? Or am I confused?

Calling 3 bets cold is really bad unless you have a great hand. Someone has raised and someone else says they have an even better hand, so you need a powerhouse, too.

Yes cold calling is when a player has no $ in the pot and calls a raise then a re-raise.

My understanding is that cold calling is calling a raise when you currently have no money in the pot, be it a single raise or a raise and a reraise. For me, I won't cold call a raise with anything less than AQ. And, I won't call a raise and reraise with anything less than AA, KK, or AK suited and then I'd reraise, rather than just call.

What if you're in position? For me, I have no problems cold calling with suited connectors/one gapers when in position.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ranger390
My understanding is that cold calling is calling a raise when you currently have no money in the pot, be it a single raise or a raise and a reraise. For me, I won't cold call a raise with anything less than AQ.

bgomez80 said: What if you're in position? For me, I have no problems cold calling with suited connectors/one gapers when in position.

Let's say that you are UTG and limp. Another player in middle position raises. If you call when the action gets back to you you have NOT cold called, as you already have money in the pot...your initial limp. The same would apply if your raise and another players reraises. If you call the reraise, this is NOT a cold call. According to Sklansky, a cold call only occurs when you call a raise without having any money in the pot up to that point.

Excellent post.

I have also been guilty of cold calling too frequently. It's just so... easy. Although I don't think it's always incorrect to call, especially with speculative hands, all of the above is true and demonstrates why aggression is so key in this game.

ohh so cold calling is when you just call someones 3 bet without investing money in the pot before hand?

Well wait, it's just a thought but what if you know the player to be a bluffer, he will c-bet till the river. Would it not just be better to check raise him, so you get more value, out of the hand???
On a made hand.

Actually, if you're sure the JJ's are ahead of his range and confident the board didn't hit him (say the flop is 852r), you usually don't want to ch/r, it's too strong, he'll fold (well, he ought to, but if he's a bad player you could try). Betting out looks less strong than a ch/r - and when you bet out, he may raise you .

I don't want to give the impression that I think you should ALWAYS 3bet and NEVER cold call. I do cold call occasionally - but it's very occasionally.

What I want is to be able to take the initiative - that's why my default is to 3bet. imo, cold calling is usually (not always) the wrong thing to do because you're leaving the initiative with the opener. Also, cold calling usually (not always) means you are depending on the flop to make your hand - and you miss the flop the majority of the time, so the majority of the time you wasted money.

Now, if you're confident you can take the initiative away after the flop, say because:

1. the opener is a lagtard who 3barrels (i.e., cbets flop, turn, and river) with air,
2. you have a strong hand relative to his opening range,
3. you're in position (my example of JJ in SB was intentional, I wanted the example to be oop),
4. everyone left to act is extremely likely to fold,
and 5. you plan to steal initiative (by raising) either on the flop or the turn

then cold calling is preferable - you'll extract more value in this situation by cold calling.

P.S. Roundcat, thanks for your nice comments!

This all depends on chip stacks, and how your running. If i'm running extremely well, then i'll call with most suited picture cards provided the raise isn't oversized.

I assume were talking about cash games here as well, as if your a large stack in a tourney you'll also be calling with pretty much any 2 picture cards or suited connector.

Ok, thanks,
Well put