How to play against a callstation player?

[dragunovich]

hi, im thinking about this stuff.. i remember to doyle brunson talking about that in supersistem, and saying that if u can beat a callstation u can beat any player.. so, i want to know some opinions of the pro players from here ¨cardschat¨

 

[Asixx014]

I'm not a pro, but I've seen a lot of hands and done copious amounts of research. The consensus I've come to is that to beat callstations you have to have nuts or close to and be agressive, they'll call u down with high card or better and you'll lose most often with top pair against two pairs and hidden straights. I'll be honest and say im not sure what to do when they bet into you or reraise, but I'd probabaly fold. Generally callstations will have a weak range and wont often raise often preflop. If they do, again, I'd probably fold. Having a strong range preflop and playing hands with strong showdown value are your best friends! Calling stations will almost always give you odds to draw for nut flushes and straights so bet light when drawing, unless u hit nuts, then bet for value all day. Disputes and comments welcome! Thanks!

 

[roger perkins]

it is hard to put a calling station on a hand. you need to make him pay when you have strong hands. limit your bets when you are marginal because he will call them. most of the things you use to get someone to fold just wont work on a calling station. DONT TRY AND bluff HIM it just wont work.

 

[xOneCoolHandx]

hi, im thinking about this stuff.. i remember to doyle brunson talking about that in supersistem, and saying that if u can beat a callstation u can beat any player.. so, i want to know some opinions of the pro players from here ¨cardschat¨

I'm not a pro but I see a lot of call stations. The best way to beat them is to only play solid hands against them because these guys usually get in with strong hands...although I have seen calling stations who love to play any suited cards. The key is learning what the CS's calling range is so that you can put him/her on a hand.

Once you have done this: When you are strong, punish their stacks. When you are medium, value bet to limit your losses if you lose. If you are weak, check or toss your hand because you are destined to lose your chips.

Only do these things if you are heads up with the calling station, if there are others in the pot then you have to adjust your strategy accordingly. This advice ONLY applies to No-Limit, Fixed Limit and Pot Limit are very different and require different strategies.

Good luck

 

[KristaK]

hi, im thinking about this stuff.. i remember to doyle brunson talking about that in supersistem, and saying that if u can beat a callstation u can beat any player.. so, i want to know some opinions of the pro players from here ¨cardschat¨

like has been said ... play solid hands and get lots value from those guys
and STOP bluffing hahaha

 

[SirYivx]

Most stations will have a wide range preflop, as their main game is seeing flops and playing from there. It is tough to put them on a range, but if we 3bet preflop, we can(sometimes) get rid of their weaker holdings such as T7s, 75s, hands like that. Also, you always want to give stations very bad odds to call preflop. So, if you usually 3bet something around 3-4x the initial raise, try going bigger with your stronger hands, giving them a bad price to see a flop. This will fold their weakest hands, and give you more money when they flop a pair to your overpair.

Another thing like has been stated above- do NOT try to bluff a station. Maybe after playing with certain players and learning their tendencies you can attempt a bluff, but there really is no reason to otherwise. If they flop a pair or a draw, they likely aren't going anywhere and even on brick turns and rivers, if they have a piece, their plan is to call you down.

 

[jadestem]

Take them to value town when you hit it hard. Try to keep the pot small when you have a smaller piece. Just get out and move on when you don't have anything.

 

[JJP]

Make a hand and bet for value. Tax his draws and middling pairs with your big hands. Learn to bet for value thinly on certain textures. And the #1 most important thing when you have this type of read on a player, DO NOT TRY AND RUN A MULTI STREET BLUFF !

 

[eetenor]

Play All Streets Skillfully

hi, im thinking about this stuff.. i remember to doyle brunson talking about that in supersistem, and saying that if u can beat a callstation u can beat any player.. so, i want to know some opinions of the pro players from here ¨cardschat¨

Thank you for posting.

The key to understanding calling stations is that they play all streets. You have to be good at extracting value over multiple streets not just preflop and flop. As well you need to be very good at board reading and player reading. Hand ranging not just hand strength becomes very important.

You have to become skilled at poker beyond just make big bets and win. How do we do this? We work on our understanding of hand range construction that allows us to maximize our winnings vs calling stations.

Simplified example: If I range an opponent that limps with 65off i can isolate raise in position with 87 then bluff all paint flops and value bet most 8's and 7's notice if my opponent flops two pair I have a straight draw.

It is never that easy but the idea is to play a range just slightly narrower than the calling station and max value bet when it is correct to do so.

Simplified Example 2: Villain plays all Ax up to A8 for a limp. We play All Ax that dominates that range ie down to A9 for instance.

Remember we are board reading flop, turn and river. We are not max betting our A9 preflop vs A2 because villain does not fold their range. If we raise it is to isolate. Calling stations love big pots preflop.
Why not raise big you ask? We are playing ranges not hands. The calling station is limping QJ Q10 33 44 etc we need to define their range in connection to the board not some preflop guess.

We then adjust our betting, checking, calling and bluffing ranges based on every card we see on each street.

Please remember this applies to 50bb stacks and above not 15bb in a tournament.

Hope this helps.

 

[JBGoode]

In general we should be tighting our open ranges/calling ranges....

Calling stations can be a problem when they either have position on you, or if they are in the blinds.... in this case it's simple to just play ABC poker. Bet if you have it, and check when you dont, and dont bluff. As the non aggressor I have actually been donking a lot more with my top pairs+, figuring these players tend to check back and see free cards more often then they bet. By donking we are still extracting value from thier style of play.

Now with hands like straights with top pair on the flop, completed flushes on the turn where we bet the flop with 2 overs and a draw, or sets for example. We need to be betting 3 streets of value, and not be sacred that we might have been sucked out on by the river. Cause if we do take the bad beat it was gonna happen anyway against these types of players.

 

[PaxMundi]

Value bet,Value bet,Value bet,.

 

[PaxMundi]

Dont bluff,Value bet,Value bet,Value bet.

 

[Tbone461]

Calling stations are my favorite type of player to play against. they are very predictable and easy prey. I usually wait for a big hand and trap them.

 

[hutzpaf]

hi, im thinking about this stuff.. i remember to doyle brunson talking about that in supersistem, and saying that if u can beat a callstation u can beat any player.. so, i want to know some opinions of the pro players from here ¨cardschat¨

See this video maybe it's helpful -

 

[ayahuasca]

Just don't bluff (I mean, at all) and make them to play with you when your hands are really strong. It's not to hard to play them as they're very predictable.

 

[redboy23]

Calling stations are very welcomed a poker table. They can be a good source of chips as long as you have a very strong hand and you make good use of each street. Do not try to bluff them nor should you play like them and hunt for draws, that is their strength - do not join them!

Above all - have fun with the calling station.

 

[eberetta1]

Okay, I am not a pro. The way I handle a calling station is let the whole table work on taking him down. If online poker is not rigged, he should only have the best hand once every 9 hands if they are at a 9 player table. So each person will take their shots when they have their best hand. If noone has a good hand, of course the station will win with no showdown. But get a few players with good hands and the calling station is gone withing two to three rounds of the table. That has been my experience.

Calling stations create a lot of excitement, but seldom win.

 

[This Fish Chums]

Tips from a calling station.

As a fish and a part-time calling station I'll actually give you some tips on how tot ake someone like me out of a hand.

1. Be aggressive pre-flop. A 2-4BB preflop raise won't scare me off something I want to play. I won't explain why, just know you need to bet 5-10BBs to push me off preflop assuming I have a weak hand.
2. Post flop, bet pot-size or at a min. 10BB per street and up IF you think I missed the flop. Remember, I can be playing any 2 cards so I always have a shot at 2-pair. It takes large bets to push me off a hand because I look at the size of the pot and the bet and think, wow, if I put in 4BB I could win 16BB? I'm going for it.
3. If I called a big preflop bet and/or bet preflop thben you should NOT try to bluff or c-bet me light. I call c-bets a LOT because people assume they can c-bet anyone off a hand.
4. If you have a big hand and I'm betting, then trap, trap, trap. Getting trapped is my huge weakness.
5. If you trap me, bet the river. Don't be someone who traps to the river and then when it is there turn just calls. If you have me beat then bet for value.
6. Never try to bluff me with nothing. Always have outs if you'er going to bluff because you never know when I'm going to call it.
7. Know that I use other players to my advantage. I WANT there to be 3-4 players in the hand because that negates your ability to do a lot of the above because you have to be worried about the other good players actually having a hand.

Yes, I'm a fish, yes I'm a calling station, and yes I lose a lot, but if you're not cautious and if you don't respect my hands I can win big pots and I can take you out. As they say, even broken clocks are right twice a day and if I stack up to your massive bluff it makes up for a good 10-20 min-cost hands that I saw when no one was punishing me.

Why would I expose all this about calling stations and me in particular? Hmmmm . . .

 

[frnandoh]

Have you ever been in a game which worst players than you just smashed you? Because in poker, even you know that one player is a bad player, if you play bad against him, you are being worst than him. Against calling station you have to be disciplined and play a boring poker. What's worth? Money or fun? You decide.

- Play stronger hands: avoid to be commited to play dominated hands.
- Fold weaker hands, control the pot with medium or speculative hands and blow up with stronger hands.

Calling Station is a dream player that everyone that wants to make some money wants to be in the same table. People that complains about them, do it because want to be emotionally satisfied, that cost expensive.