Isolating a Calling Station (1) - Preflop

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Isolating a Calling Station (1) - Preflop

by MiiWiin

Finding profitable tables is the main goal of every poker player. Profitable means that you have a clear advantage against at least one opponent at the table, since your game is better than his.

When it comes to pursuing this goal, a number of different player types can be of interest. This article will focus on the calling station. It is your main target in the fish pond.

However, there are some things you need to consider when you are up against an opponent that doesn't seem to be willing to fold anything that could somehow be a made hand. Of course this has a number of advantages, but it can also pose some problems since you will not be able to create much fold equity.

What is a calling station?

First of all we have to define what you can consider a calling station. Even a seemingly regular TAG can display the characteristics of a calling station if he has an extremely high went-to-showdown stat.

We will put our main focus on typical fish, which can be roughly categorised as follows:

• VPIP: This value is usually very high, often over 30% or even considerably higher.
• PFR: Generally very low, often around 10% or lower.
• The relation between VPIP/PFR: The gap between VPIP and PFR is usually extremely high.
• WTS: This stat is usually higher than average (22-27%), generally around 30% or higher.

Such players are the basis for the following considerations.

What does “isolation“ mean?

First off, have a look at the glossary for this:

Singling out a player to go heads-up against him by pushing the opposition out of the game with aggressive actions. Isolation is used to get a weak player in a pot by himself early in the game or to secure an advantage in position by pushing out a player who could negate that advantage.  

You raise with the intention of playing heads-up against a specific opponent. You can pursue this goal by raising after a passive player limped for example, or by 3-betting after an open-raise.

Why isolate in the first place?

It's pretty easy to answer this question.

Besides the usual advantages that come with a raise, you also get the chance to take down the pot preflop and the chance to get into a heads-up against a weak player where you can then use your edge to defeat him.

The factor "time" also plays a role here. There are not many weak players who sit down at the table with 100 big blinds and re-buy every time they lose their chips. Such players have discovered their very own way of dealing with stack sizes and bankroll management.

A frequently occuring problem is that these players simply don't re-buy. If these players have 100 big blinds when they start the game and lose one to two pots, they will just continue playing with a small stack. One reason for this is that they believe it will keep them from unnecessarily losing even more.

The second common problem is that such players often leave the table after they lose their stacks. They think that it is outrageous to have lost their entire stack at one table, so they simply try their luck at another one.

But there are also many other types:

• Many players don't even join the table with 100 BB, but play as a mid stack instead.
• These players will often change tables even if they haven't lost their entire stack.
• Even if they have won a few times, they might still leave the table since they are worried about losing their entire (deep) stack again.

All in all it should be clear what you have to pay attention to. You only have a limited amount of time at your hands to take the stack from this player. It's not enough to wait for premium hands, which you could play without much variance.

If you don't try to isolate this player and get him into complicated spots, another player will do it and take what you could have had.

What do you have to pay particular attention to?

Although it's easy to talk about it, isolating such players is actually not that easy. If the rest of the table pretty much consists of regulars, they will be able to tell that you raise quite frequently in order to get in these profitable spots. However, your opponents would also like to get into these spots.

You therefore have to be prepared for light 3-bets if you make too many light raises. First of all you don't get much credit for a regular raise against a calling station, and on other other hand not even the worst calling stations will automatically cold call every 3-bet, so that a bluff 3-bet might often be successful behind you.

PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($100)
MP ($100)
CO ($100) (35/8/0.5/31) (VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS)
Hero ($100)
SB ($100) (24/19/3.5/24)
BB ($100)

Preflop: Hero is BU with X, X
2 folds, CO calls $1.00, Hero raises to $5.00, SB raises to $16.50, 2 folds

No player wants the others to be successful - just like the other players will try to keep you from from taking advantage of this nice spot, you also have to look for opportunities to do the same. Pay attention to these situations if you don't have direct position on the fish. Players who isolate too lightly are vulnerable to bluff 3-bets.

Of course, there are many other problems as well. Even if you have an edge, you have to consider that your opponents don't fold much postflop. Therefore it is essential here to make a good hand selection, since you can't just play every hand profitably if your opponent takes too many hands to the showdown.

Especially when it comes to drawing hands, which mainly depend on their playability and the implied odds, you have to be careful. To play a draw aggressively doesn't make much sense against an opponent who really doesn't seem to fold anything. Particularly in spots like these, the aspect of equity regains importance.

Therefore, a hand such as KJ can indeed have a higher EV in the long run than a hand like 67s. If you are playing aganist TAGs and have trouble staying in big pots with KJ, this hand will usually still be good against calling stations if you hit top pair, despite the weak kicker.

Ideal hands?

If you are expecting a list of possible hands now, we have to disappoint you. There are many different types of calling stations, so it's not possible and not reasonable to suggest specific hands.

We already gave some initial hints further above: Hands with high equity have advantages here. This may include hands such as QTo or A9o, where with a top pair you can be sure that there are many weaker hands in Villain's range, with which he is still willing to invest something in the pot.

Especially with top pairs - also without top kicker - you will win many pots in your poker life against calling stations. However, against regular players, who don't like to call down, you can run into problems with these hands. A TAG for example will rarely call preflop with Q9s- and pay you off on the flop on a Q high board. Calling stations on the other hand don't just (love to) call such hands preflop, they will also not be very likely to fold their hand postflop.

Somewhat unsuitable hands include offsuit connectors or any 2 suited. You also have to be careful when it comes to suited connectors. Of course their playability is more than decent also against calling stations, but especially out of position (small blind) you will often be in a losing position.

However, you will usually not have many alternatives. While a raise with these hands is usually still possible out of position, you should refrain from raising with offsuit connectors.

PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($100)
MP ($100)
CO ($100)
BU ($100) (35/8/0.5/31) (VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS)
Hero ($100)
BB ($100) (24/19/3.5/24)

Preflop: Hero is SB with X, X
3 folds, BU calls $1.00, Hero...?

Especially in such situations you can generally not make many mistakes. Just keep in mind that you have to act out of position postflop and you therefore should know how this opponent reacts to light continuation bets and 2nd barrels. This knowledge already plays a big role when evaluating your alternatives preflop.

Should you 3-bet?

If someone who can be classified as a weak player limps, raising is profitable with most hands. But what if an opponent has already raised?

PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($100)
MP ($100)
CO ($100)
BU ($100) (35/8/0.5/31) (VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS)
Hero ($100)
BB ($100) (24/19/3.5/24)

Preflop: Hero is SB with X, X
3 folds, BU raises to $3.00, Hero...

In these cases, the situation gets much tougher. There are two things you have to pay attention to here:

• You usually create little fold equity.
• You therefore often play a 3-bet pot out of position.
• However, your opponent will usually call with very weak hands.

You have to re-define these problematic issues every time and apply them to the specific opponent in the given situation. The following stats will help you with this:

• Open-raise from the given position
• Fold-to-3-bet
• Fold-to-cbet flop/turn

In such situations it will no longer be very simple to decide when a 3-bet is for value and when it is not. Of course a 3-bet with KJo is an option if the opponent really hardly folds any hand to 3-bets.

However, you do need to be aware of the fact that you are entering high variance spots here - especially if you are considering 3-bets with drawing hands. 56s and small pocket pairs should be not in your standard repertoire here. You will get called too often, miss the board and jeopardise your stack postflop.

If a passive player raises, you should primarily make your 3-bet for value, but lower the requirements somewhat. Hands such as AJo or KQo can very well be 3-bets for value in such spots, your opponent will call weaker hands often enough.

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