A calling station is an extremely loose player who plays too many hands and calls every bet, even with marginal hands. They are known as calling stations in Poker as ‘Call’ is one of their favorite moves. They are also among the most desirable opponents as they are weak and predictable, making them easy to game plan against.
The most difficult part of playing with calling stations is that they are not bluffable. Love them or hate them, but you gotta deal with them at the poker table. Here are a few tips to play against a calling station in any live poker tournament game.
Extract Values
Remember to make a bet to extract value from your opponent, which means giving your opponent the chance to catch up by letting him hit the turn and river at low cost. A delayed value shove is considered a good play if you have managed to hit a monster, a half or slightly more pot bet is suitable on the flop.
Isolate Him
If you covet to get involved with the caller and yet fold most of the better players, make as many raises as possible pre-flop. Get into as many heads up pots as probable with the call-station player after isolating him.
We all know betting on the sure thing removes any risks and this is where you check-raise your ogres such as AA and KK with slow play. Slow play can certainly help you extract value from calling stations. You should be checking or calling the flop and turn for the smallest amount possible in situational hands against call stations.
No to Bluffing
Bluffing is not often recommended as the calling station is always looking for a motive to call you. He will call even with lesser-strength hands and you don’t need the strongest possible hand to get rewarded. So, you should be checking your rival down to the river even if you don’t hold the best hands.
Avoid Reading Hands
It is a waste of time to read their hands as it is almost impossible to know what they are holding as they won’t be raising. You can “check” them if you think they have a big hand and see if they bet. It is very probable they have hit something big if they do bet. You should also respect their raises and fold unless you have them beat.
You should have the poker strategy to match with these low limit players. Calling stations in poker games are usually one of the best types of opponents you can have as you can dictate where the actions lead and take control of the hands.
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