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Calling pre-flop Calling pre-flop

02-14-2019 , 11:38 AM
I'm trying to plug some leaks preflop because when I look at my stats I realize I rarely ever call a raise preflop. Very very rarely. My VPIP is like 17 and PFR 16 or 17 most of the time. I only call preflop with hands like AQ in position or sometimes AJs IP. Most of the time, I fold, even KQs, 66, 77, etc.

What hands can I call and how to play them? Is this a leak and what to do with it?

Thanks
Calling pre-flop Quote
02-14-2019 , 12:45 PM
Most people actually call too often.
When you're in position facing a raise, the main hands that are profitable calls are AQ, AJs, KQs, QJs, JTs, JJ-77. If you call much wider, you'll start losing money, especially if you lack post-flop skill. (Fish make losing calls with hands like AJo, A2s, or J9s or 98s).
When you're in the BB and can close the action, you can call much wider (including all the suited connectors and all suited aces and all suited Broadways).
As a beginner, it's much better to have the leak of being slightly too tight than the leak of playing too loose. You can open with fairly wide ranges, but you should be tight when facing a raise.
Calling pre-flop Quote
02-14-2019 , 02:17 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ArtyMcFly
Most people actually call too often.
When you're in position facing a raise, the main hands that are profitable calls are AQ, AJs, KQs, QJs, JTs, JJ-77. If you call much wider, you'll start losing money, especially if you lack post-flop skill. (Fish make losing calls with hands like AJo, A2s, or J9s or 98s).
When you're in the BB and can close the action, you can call much wider (including all the suited connectors and all suited aces and all suited Broadways).
As a beginner, it's much better to have the leak of being slightly too tight than the leak of playing too loose. You can open with fairly wide ranges, but you should be tight when facing a raise.
That's about the hands I call with, and still my PFR is very close to VPIP. i read that it should be 3% lower +-.
Calling pre-flop Quote
02-14-2019 , 02:51 PM
Most of the gap between VPIP and PFR comes from calling in the BB (especially vs a steal). You're playing full ring aren't you? You presumably don't get as many BTNvBB spots as 6-max players, and you also can't cold call in position all that often, because you might be in MP v UTG with several players still to act. (It's not good to call pre if there are 4 or 5 players still to act).

Have you got a tracker/database? If you have HEM, you can add the Cold-call % stat to the positional report, and you can find out exactly how often you're flatting pre in each position. It should be very low except in BB and BTN. If you have the numbers I can take a look and see if they are out of line.
I honestly think that widening your calling ranges is the last thing you should be doing at this point though. It's very hard to make money when you press CALL pre-flop. The bulk of the money goes to whoever is the last raiser, so you should focus on playing pots as the raiser, preferably in position.
Calling pre-flop Quote
02-14-2019 , 03:12 PM
is this F.R? if so idk if you have much incentive to change ur stats
if 6m or lower there is a lot you can do, most of it is villain dependent:

calling with all PP to set mine,
vs nits call with S.C & S.G cards hoping to bink,
vs people who open too wide 3b lots of blockers like Axs, vs people who open too wide and call 3bets, 3b two big cards like QJ,KQ,AJ etc.
vs people who cbet too often flat call a lot of s.c's and checkraise them when you flop midpair/top pair/draws.

one thing i wouldn't do is call nits with broadway cards. you're gonna find yourself paying off KK when your AQ flops Qxx any time youre getting action.

if you take their stats into consideration, you should be able to identify what theyre doing too much/too little of and find the cards/manner of using said cards that exploit it.
Calling pre-flop Quote
02-14-2019 , 04:25 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ArtyMcFly
Most of the gap between VPIP and PFR comes from calling in the BB (especially vs a steal). You're playing full ring aren't you? You presumably don't get as many BTNvBB spots as 6-max players, and you also can't cold call in position all that often, because you might be in MP v UTG with several players still to act. (It's not good to call pre if there are 4 or 5 players still to act).

Have you got a tracker/database? If you have HEM, you can add the Cold-call % stat to the positional report, and you can find out exactly how often you're flatting pre in each position. It should be very low except in BB and BTN. If you have the numbers I can take a look and see if they are out of line.
I honestly think that widening your calling ranges is the last thing you should be doing at this point though. It's very hard to make money when you press CALL pre-flop. The bulk of the money goes to whoever is the last raiser, so you should focus on playing pots as the raiser, preferably in position.
OK thanks, so I'm on the right track it seems...
Calling pre-flop Quote
02-14-2019 , 04:25 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by LordPallidan12
is this F.R? if so idk if you have much incentive to change ur stats
if 6m or lower there is a lot you can do, most of it is villain dependent:

calling with all PP to set mine,
vs nits call with S.C & S.G cards hoping to bink,
vs people who open too wide 3b lots of blockers like Axs, vs people who open too wide and call 3bets, 3b two big cards like QJ,KQ,AJ etc.
vs people who cbet too often flat call a lot of s.c's and checkraise them when you flop midpair/top pair/draws.

one thing i wouldn't do is call nits with broadway cards. you're gonna find yourself paying off KK when your AQ flops Qxx any time youre getting action.

if you take their stats into consideration, you should be able to identify what theyre doing too much/too little of and find the cards/manner of using said cards that exploit it.
Thanks
Calling pre-flop Quote

      
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