Article
Money From a Cash Machine
tagged: Bootcamp Articles, Learn to Play Articles
A rag falls on the turn, and your opponent again makes a medium-sized bet (maybe two-thirds of the pot). You call again. The river also brings another card that couldn’t conceivably help his hand, but he fires out again, and you reluctantly call. One of two things happens at this point: he turns over a hand that had you beat right from the flop, or he turns over some sort of bluff or (perhaps more likely) semi-bluff that you can beat.
Although we all find ourselves in this situation from time to time, this tactic of check/calling is one that should be used sparingly. While it can effectively keep an aggressive opponent on a leash, you don’t want to fall into the habit of routinely just checking or calling your opponents’ bets when you have the best hand.
TAKE CONTROL
Be on the lookout for the player that check and calls too often, and when you enter pots with him, change your tactics accordingly. Weak players like this, who won’t regularly put you to tough decisions, are great for your bankroll if managed properly.
When you get into a heads-up situation with this type of player, make your bets with top pair, or similar holdings, a little larger than average. Check/callers are attempting to control the size of the pot – don’t let them. Players like this will often have an idea in their head (consciously or unconsciously) about how much they’re willing to commit to the hand if no scare cards fall. Your goal should be to figure out how much that amount is, and then to bet it.
If you happen to find a position where you can bluff this type of player and succeed, this is one of the rare situations where it might be a good idea to show the bluff. If you do, though, be aware that this will only reinforce their check/calling tendencies, and that your chances of successfully bluffing them in future are very low.
Let’s look at an example in a $5 /$10 No Limit game. Everyone folds to you on the cutoff, and you look down at A-Q, which you raise to $40 with. The Button and Small Blind both fold, and the Big Blind calls. Both of you have around $1,000 on the table. The flop comes Q-10-3 and your opponent checks. You bet $75 (into an $85 pot) and he calls. The turn brings a Two and he checks again. You bet $175, and once again he calls.
Knowing this player has a tendency to check/call borderline hands, you can be reasonably sure you’re ahead, and are up against a hand like K-Q, J-J, Q-J, J-10, or 10-9. There’s a possibility that you’re up against Q-10 (or even a draw like J-9 or K-J), but more likely he’s got the Queen with a worse kicker or the ten with a good kicker, and is hoping to show the hand down as cheaply as possible, thinking he’s probably good.
BET FOR VALUE
If a safe card falls on the river (no K, J, 10, 9 in this situation) you’re in great position to extract chips with a value bet, where against a less predictable opponent you would put the brakes on and check, not overly confident that your top pair, top kicker was good. With the pot at $585, depending on your read, you can profitably bet anywhere from $250-$600, perhaps even more if your opponent has a tendency to make hero calls which I’ll get to in a second).
So what do you do if you get raised by a player in this situation? It’s very likely he’s not bluffing, and picked up a hand somewhere along the line. You should be folding to a re-raise here the majority of the time (without a strong read), because these players tend to check-raise with strong holdings more often than your average opponent.
Although check/calling is a hole in their game, many of them are aware of the calling station image they give off, and will occasionally take advantage of this to trap you. Against average or poor players who have a tendency to check/call too often, however, the amount you’ll get in from value bets in the long run will far exceed the money you’ll lose when you do get trapped.
SPOT THE HERO
I mentioned opponents who have the tendency to make ‘hero calls’. These are calls made with very marginal hands that can only beat a pure bluff (or close to it). For example, a player – let’s call him Green – makes a substantial pre-flop raise. His opponent, Quinn, calls, and the board comes A-Q-J. Green bets the pot, and Quinn calls.
The turn comes an Ace, and Green pushes all-in. Quinn thinks for a while, and then makes the call, turning over 3-3 for a very suspect two-pair. Turns out Green had 8-7 suited, and the Threes hold up as the best hand. Well, sure, Quinn’s call turned out right, but if you make calls like that on a regular basis, you’re going to go broke in a big hurry.
Calling with the 3-3, all that he can beat is the purest of bluffs – not to mention that any Jack or Queen on the river counterfeits his hand and he plays the board. Regardless of Quinn’s read on Green, it’s simply not a hand you can call with profitably over the long run.
If you run into a player like Quinn, punish him when you get him heads-up. If he’s willing to call all of his chips off because he ‘has a feeling you’re making a move’, or to show he’s got the stones to play with anyone, or because he loves bragging about the amazing calls he makes – or whatever other idiotic justification he gives for regularly making these marginal calls – then felt him for it. Just remember that you should never try to bluff this player.
