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Calling a raise pre flop

our users say that this strategy is worth: four aces
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FOUR ACES
Friday November, 13th 2009 by fullhouse

Calling a raise pre flop is a move that will have its time and place, but should be used sparingly. Players who like to call raises pre flop (as opposed to re raising or folding) will be labeled as passive or weak. Some of the worst traits a poker player can possibly have are passiveness and weakness. This type of playing style will lend itself to repeated exploitation. It is certainly alright to occasionally call a raise pre flop, there will be times where this is OK, but your bankroll will begin to bleed money if you start to do it too often.

When to call a raise pre flop

One of the prerequisites for calling a raise pre flop would be that you are in position. It is infinitely easier to play any hand when you are in position. If you are in position and are considering calling a raise, you should ask yourself what types of hands you are putting the other player on. If they raised from EP or UTG it is quite likely that they have a strong hand such as 99+ or AQ+. Knowing that they likely have a strong hand, you should then decide what kind of improvements your hand will need to make in order to overtake their hand. If you have a hand like 44 it would be a good idea to simply call their raise. There is little to no value in re raising them (in fact it would be far from optimal) but your hand has enough potential that it should see a flop. Why a hand like 44? Think about the range that we put them on, 99+ and AQ+. If the flop is all low cards we will be able to effectively stack the other player when they are holding an overpair and we hit a set. 44 is extremely deceptive and it will be hard for them to put you on that exact hand. Maybe the flop has an ace in it. This is another situation where your opponent will be confident enough in his hand that they will stack off to your set. Another great hand to simply call a raise with pre flop would be something like 8s9s. Suited connectors will often hit flops very hard and it will be difficult for other players to put you on them. Poker is all about deception and calling raises pre flop with these types of hands will throw off many players.

When calling a raise pre flop is a bad idea

Flat calling a raise pre flop with a strong pocket pair or AK type hands is very rarely a good idea. You want to force your opponent to put in as much money as possible when they have these types of hands. Beyond this, you also want to control the action in the hand. Calling someone else’s raise when you have a powerful hand is letting them go too easily. It is the equivalent of a store selling an item for $4 when they would sell just as many at $8. If you have a very strong hand pre flop, re raise it. If you have a very weak hand, fold it. If you have a mediocre hand, consider making the call.