Calling all hands!
18 April 2005
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
What are you thoughts about poker players who
call an abnormal amount of hands? I find them
very frustrating to play against. Is there a way
to beat them? Tom C.
Calling a hand in poker is essentially matching
the current wager. For instance, If there had
been a bet of $2, then a raise of $2, it would
cost a player $4 to call. Calling a bet is the
cheapest and the most passive way to remain in a
hand.
In the lingua franca of poker, a player who is
forever calling hands is dubbed a calling
station. Like you, Tom, I find them frustrating,
though beatable to play against. You prevail
over constant callers by obviously making your
hands, and once you have identified a calling
station, knowing they often fail to press their
advantage when they have relatively strong
cards.
Calling stations by and large tend to play
passively, a style of play that is characterized
by the reluctance to bet and raise. Contrast
that to a loose player who plays more hands and
holds on to them longer; a loose-passive player
who will call with almost anything, but raise
only with very powerful hands; an aggressive
player whose play is characterized by frequent
raising and re-raising; or a tight player who
generally plays fewer hands and folds them
earlier.
Unfortunately, as you well know, Tom, calling
stations will hit more backdoor and other
unlikely draws than most players, and that is
why they can be annoying to play alongside.
The style of play that has worked very well for
me over the years against most players,
including pesky calling stations, is being
tight-aggressive. Tight-aggressive players are
very selective about the cards they play, but
aggressive once they get involved with a decent
hand. It is a playing style, Tom, I highly
recommend.
Dear Mark,
Do you know if the game of Caribbean Stud Poker
originates from the Caribbean, or by some game
maker in Nevada? Kenneth H.
Caribbean Stud Poker, a five-card stud poker
type game without the luxury of a draw, was
invented and first offered in 1988 in an Aruba
casino. Though the game has skyrocketed in
popularity all over the
world, popular or not, the house edge is still a
tough beat at 5.3%, with the progressive bonus
side bet at 48%.
Dear Mark,
In sports betting, what is the difference
between taking odds and laying odds? Benny F.
With sports wagers, you can either be "taking
the odds" or "laying the odds." A bettor who is
"taking the odds" is wagering an amount that is
less than they will receive if they win; that is
to say, if you wager $100, you would win more
than $100.
What "laying the odds" means is that some odds
are so high in favor of the likely winner, that
winning wagers are paid an amount less than the
amount wagered.
Gambling quote of the week: "Always remember,
the first thing a gambler has to do is make
friends with himself. A lot of people go through
this world thinking they're somebody else. There
are a lot of players sitting at this table with
mistaken identities." Pug Pearson, Fast Company
(1975)
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