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SELF-WEIGHTIND COLD CALLS
One of the most frequent and, in my view, most egregious errors I see made, even by players who are somewhat better than average, is that of cold calling other players’ preflop raises with inadequate hands. Sklansky and other writers have noted a basic principle of poker which states that, on average, you need a better hand to call a raise than you need to raise with yourself.
There are a few reasons for this. First, when you are the first player in, and you come in for a raise, you have two ways to winning. (*The astute reader may note that it is sometimes correct to call a raise with a hand that would seem to be fundamentally weaker than the raiser’s hand). You may steal the blinds, or you may win the pot after the flop. But when you call a raise cold, you have only the second way of winning. A second reason concerns the relatives strength of your calling hand and the raiser’s hand. If you hold a hand that is near the bottom of the spectrum of hands self you would raise with if you were the opener, then what do you make of your hand if you are faced with a raise from a player whose raising standards are similar to your own? On average his hand will fall higher in that same spectrum.
Calling with a small pair in late position after someone has raised and several players have called the two bets is an example of such a call. Note, however, that the value of the small pair is magnified in this multiway situation. In fact, were the pot not already raised, raising with the small pair in this spot could be correct. It has, in effect, become a raising hand. Therefore I see this call (and others like it ) as only a partial exception to the general principle I am addressing. In the case of these calls, considerations of pot odds and implied odds take on unusual weight and make correct a call that would be out of the question under other circumstances. But there’s more to this relative strength consideration.
As Sklansky points out in his essay, “Why You Lose in a Good Game, ” in Getting the Best of It, the odds you are getting from the pot could sometimes make calling under these conditions marginally correct – if you knew the raiser did not hold a big pair. In reality, you must of course factor in big pairs when you consider your opponent’s spectrum of raising hands. That leaves you with the notion of calling his raise with what figures to be the worst hand, and possibly a hand that is truly “dominated ” by a big pair. Adding the big pair factor to the other two I mentioned tips the scales strongly against the option of calling raises without sufficient hand values.
Yet to see players calling raises cold with hands like is common or these are hands just strong enough to raise with in certain situations. More often they are not even playable. Yet players with poor knowledge of preflop strategy, and how it impacts play after the flop, will call a raise cold with these hands without a moment’s hesitation.
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