I've noticed an increasingly large amount of Texas Hold'em players, whether it be live or online, calling on the river with _extremely_ marginal hands when pressed. Examples of pros doing this include Kenny Tran calling with simply top pair on a 4-flush board and Raymond Rahme making a giant river bet call with simply 88 on a board of overcards.
My roommate Tamim is also prone to doing this, and sometimes he makes amazing calls (like the call of my all in river bet on a heavy board with just AQ high when I had 23os bluffing the river) but it also leads to him being very susceptible to value bets.
I personally don't like the sick call, and I never, ever, ever call down without at least a pair, even in Hold'em, when so few people have an actual real hand. I find myself physically unable to call with a high card, even when I'm exceedingly pot committed.
An example of when I should have made a sick call was a few months back when I had Q9 at a $20 homegame 30c/60c at Mark and Jen's house. I got involved with a rather largish pot with Jarron and local donk Teddy.
I was BB and the game was 4 handed. Jarron raised UTG to $3 and Teddy called and I called in the BB. The flop came J84. I checked. Jarron bet $6, Teddy (as usual) called. I check-raised to $16, figuring neither had a very strong hand. Jarron looks mutinous, but because he has Teddy to act behind him he lays his hand down.
Teddy calls my $10 raise, and we go to the turn. It is an ace, and against any player who actually THINKS, it would be a great card to make a nice bluff on, if I had, say, check raised on a hand like AJ, AQ or AK. So it's me first and I bet $30. Teddy thinks for a moment and calls, leaving himself with maybe $15. I have around $20 left, and am panicking.
The river completely bricks, a deuce, and Teddy thinks for a moment, and exclaims, in that familiar Asian accent, "I'm aww in."
What can I do here? I'm attrociously pot committed. Even if I don't think Teddy has much of a hand, which I don't, I physically can't call with Q high here. I know what you're saying, "Styles, you got yourself into this situation, you made your bed..." etc. etc. But really, Getting the odds I was getting (roughtly 4-5:1), I only had to beat a bluff one in every 5 times for a call to be worth it. But I was sure Teddy HAD to have Q high beat, even a player as crazy as Teddy couldnt be still in this pot without a little piece.
So I didnt make my sick call. I let Teddy take the pot, at which point Jarron stands up swearing. I felt bad because I had represented such strength in the hand, but I had made a good play against Jarron, but a horribly donkish one against the complete calling station, Teddy.
Teddy, rolls over 9Tos by the way, for Ten high and a busted straight draw. Most uncool.
Anyway, I'm probably getting off my point. What do you think about this rush of people calling with very marginal hands? I think it has happened because people have gotten so good at Texas Holdem, realised you can win so much with pure aggression, that the standards of a river call are so much lower, because people are "playing the man" more than the cards now.
What do you guys think? Leave some comment love.
Styles
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3 comments:
intersting read! As having seen teddy play first hand here in orange when he won th regional (hope im thinkin of the right person) you did make the right move as i remember teddy calling 3 all in with ace 7 pre flop and hitting the 7 on the flop and turn. So its understandable that he might go crazy with a 7.
As for the "Sick" call its like u said sometime u r playing the man not the cards, and being from small poker towns u get to know players poker mannerisms and u will get called down with ace or king high from time to time, my theory is that its much harder to read "bad" players such as teddy then it is to read good players because the bad players will go with there straight draws to the river or hold on to a jack with kings and queens on the board making it harder to bluff.
well done on your recent online poker results you have done well to avoid being donk'd
Nice post. My best call was with Jack 6 high... the guy had 2,6 off suit. My friends criticised me because I did not have the nut jack high.
it was 3 left in a winner takes all SNG satellite, he raised pre to steal my BB and just kept betting while I called him down
reading your blog as you suggested... thought I'd comment here.
Personally I think sick calls are the biggest leak in my game. When getting nice odds I convince myself that my hand could be good in a spot where it almost never is...
However... I think my sickest call was when my friend bluffed a river and I beat him into the pot with a hand like J2. I can't remember the exact circumstances, but I think there wasn't much action to the river, and I knew he had nothing.
The sickest call ever is possibly Ungar's with 6 high, or the calla on a double paired board with a deuce that he called a river bet with 44.
It is definitely a huge leak in many people's games ,but the nature of NLHE these days is that people do bluff the river a lot, and so the correct adjustment is to call lighter.
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