PokerWorks

Sometimes it is okay to check and call or just call. Most of the time it's not, but there are times, usually against loose aggressive players who like to make small bets, to check and call as raising will generally lead to either being re-raised or generating a fold. By just checking and calling against this type of player, they continue to put money into the pot at small increments and give you the correct odds to draw to your hand or to win the pot even though you only have a marginal hand. You must be able to recognize the player that is doing this, however, otherwise checking and calling will bleed chips from your stack.

Generally, checking and calling shows weakness and you never are able to figure out your opponent's hand, but if you know your opponent is the type of player who will bet the minimum regardless, and the pot is big enough to warrant a call, go ahead and do it.

An example of a hand where checking and calling is correct:

It was the middle stages of a tournament. 438 players started, 234 were left... average stack was 18,717. On this particular hand the blinds were 200/400 with a 50 ante and it was folded to the small blind who had 37, 825 in chips (the chip leader at the table). I was in the big blind with 31,725 in chips (2nd in chips at the table). There was only one other player above average stack at the table.

The small blind completed and I checked my option with A-6 of diamonds. The flop came Q-6-5 with two spades. The small blind bet 400 and I called. The turn was the 8 of spades. The small blind bet 400 and I called. The river was the 10 of clubs. Again the small blind bet 400 and again I called. The small blind had J-5 for bottom pair and I took down the pot.

It helped knowing that my opponent had a tendency to make these small bets and had done so on two prior occasions and I had won both times, but even if I had not known this about them calling, it would have been correct on each street... especially on the river when I was getting over 8:1 on my money. It would be wrong to fold when you are getting this kind of price in relation to the pot size.

Why not raise here? The problem with raising in this situation is that you give your opponent the opportunity to outplay you... to make you fold the best hand. If you raise and he re-raises and/or calls and bets on a later street, you're likely going to have to fold at a cost much greater than calling another minimum bet or two. Another consideration is stack size. This is the one player in the tournament who could bust you. If it was a player who had 5,000 in chips... raising might be the correct play.

Tournament poker is about many things, but chip conservation and maximizing profit on your winning hands are two big considerations. If you raise, you not only do not conserve chips when you have the worst hand but you reduce profit by inducing your opponent to fold (instead of minimum bet again) when you have the best hand.

The old adage it is better to raise than to call is a good one, but don't go into every hand thinking this is the ONLY way you can play. Evaluate the hand and determine if checking and calling is a more viable option because of the particular situation you are facing.

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