Poker Basics - Calling Stations

A lesson for newbies and a refresher for the rest of you on the players you will make the most money against in poker.

The first step when reading hands is to categorize your opponents into distinct player types based on his playing style. Assigning a certain player type to your opponent will help you narrow down his range.

These lessons will teach you how to differentiate between the five most common player types and their fundamental characteristics. This information will be useful when adjusting to their playing style.

The calling station

The calling station is a very loose opponent who plays his hands passively.

How do you recognize a calling station?

Calling stations play a lot of hands and are rarely aggressive, even with strong hands. They rarely play more than one or two tables and will often be sitting at the table with less than a full buy-in.

You can also recognize calling stations through their betting behaviour:

• Open limp pre-flop
• Min-3-bet pre-flop
• Min-check-raise
• Call flop, call turn, bluff bet river when checked to

What range does a calling station play?

Calling stations play a wide and thus very weak range. They often limp pre-flop and even call against big raises with inferior hands like J8o.

How do you play against a calling station?

The correct strategy allows you to play very profitably against calling stations. All you need to do is to follow these ground rules:

• Never bluff a calling station and be very cautious with your semibluffs. This kind of opponent doesn't fold often enough for your bluff to be profitable.
• If you have a good hand, just bet. The calling station won't be bluffing often, so don't try to induce bluffs.
• Try to place thin value bets. The calling station will often find a reason to call with very weak hands, so even betting with medium-strength made hands is usually profitable.
• You will often get free cards from a calling station, so it's a good idea to play your draws passively.
• When a calling station is raising, you are usually up against a monster.
• Even though calling stations might bluff the river from time to time, especially when their draws have missed, value betting to extract maximum value is generally the best approach against them.
• With a hand such as top pair and a good kicker you should be looking to bet big on all three streets.

To learn more about the types of players you will encounter in poker check out this article or watch the video below:

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