Calling In Tournaments

There is a saying in poker that goes, ‘it’s better to be the aggressor than the caller’ and generally speaking, this is completely accurate. However, this doesn’t mean that calling is something you should never do. There is a time and place for it, especially when all the factors align properly. This article is going to look at what hands you should be calling raises with pre-flop in a no-limit hold’em tournament. We’ll look at the different stages of a tournament, how position affects your calling ranges, and other factors that come into play in your decision-making process.

Early Stage Play

The early stages are when the stacks are deep relative to the blinds and typically the antes have not kicked in. It is also the stage where implied value is at its highest. This is because calling a raise at this stage typically represents a small percentage of your stack and the potential reward is high. For example, if you start with 5,000 in chips with blinds at 25/50 and a pre-flop raiser makes it 300 to go, you are risking 300 with the potential to win an additional 4,700.

This isn’t saying implied value always exists as that will depend primarily on your opponents’ tendencies, but the potential reward in return for the chips you are committing to the pot is good. In the later stages of a tournament, the average stack might only have 20 big blinds (or less) and calling a five big blind raise pre-flop doesn’t have the same value as it would in the early stages.

THE VALUE OF POSITION

Position always matters, but the early stages of a tournament is when position holds the least value. This doesn’t mean you should play every hand and call every raise from early position, but you can play a wider range of hands. If you have 80 big blinds for example, limping in with a small pair, suited connectors, or even a marginal hand like A-x suited can have some value. The caveat, however, is that if you are going to play hands from early position and call raises with them, you need to be confident in your post-flop game.

If you are the type of player who only bets or check-raises when they have it, then the odds of you getting paid off are not as high. However, if you are the type of player who mixes it up, then limping with well-disguised hands has some value. For example, if you limp in with speculative hands and also big hands like Aces, Kings, and Ace-King, and have shown the ability to bet or raise with nothing. If you mix up your game and aren’t predictable, the odds of you getting paid off when you hit your speculative hand out of position increases than if you play straightforward poker.

Besides position, there is also another consideration to evaluate when deciding whether or not to call a pre-flop raise: table dynamics. The ideal table is one that is playing passively and is not doing a lot of re-raising, squeeze plays, or ridiculous overbets on the flop. You want to be able to see flops and chase potential draws as cheaply as possible. If your table is hyper-aggressive, position becomes a huge factor and you should tighten up the range of hands you play.

Keypoint
Calling with hands with implied value is only a profitable play if the table dynamics suggest you will get paid off if you hit. Don’t blindly call with small pocket pairs in the hope you will hit a set unless you’re sure you will get paid off

Middle Stage Play

The middle stage of a tournament typically begins when the antes kick in. Usually at this point, nearly half the players in the tournament have been eliminated and the average stack has about half the number of big blinds in comparison to what they started the tournament with. For example, if you started with 10,000 chips and the blinds are 50/100, the average stack would be in the neighbourhood of 20,000 at the 200/400 stage with a 50 ante.

In shallower, faster-structured tournaments this number could be at 20 big blinds or lower. The structure of the tournament is a major factor in determining your pre-flop calling ranges. If it’s a deeper-structured tournament then it will be very similar to the early stages. If it’s a shallow tournament like a $100 event at your local casino, then it will be more similar to what you would do in the later stages.

STACK MANAGEMENT

In a deeper-structured tournament, you can continue playing as you did in the early stages. However, it is important to understand the significance calling pre-flop raises can have on your stack at this stage. Where a five big blind bet might have been only 5% of your stack in the first level, if you’re an average stack it’ll be closer to 10-15% in the middle stages. Making these calls in the early stages is relatively painless. If you miss and have to fold post-flop, it was only a small chunk of your stack. In the middle stages though, making just three of these calls without winning a pot post-flop can cut your stack in half.

While you can still play speculatively when implied value exists, it’s wise to be more discriminating in the hands and situations you choose, and what position you are playing from. Ideally, for the hands you are going to be playing, you want to be in position with multiple people in the pot. This is where your implied value is the highest and also where you have the strongest possibility of picking up the pot on a bluff.

Key Point
Calling rarely has much value in the middle stage of a tournament unless you are playing in a very deep-stacked and slow-structured event. Only look to call when you are playing in a multi-way pot

Later Stage Play

The later stages of a tournament are usually from the bubble until the tournament is over. Even in deep-structured events, the average stack will be less than 30 big blinds. Unless you have been fortunate to acquire a big stack, the hands you call with at this stage should be few and far between. However, there are situations where calling is ideal.

Even though implied value is low at this point, there is value in calling with certain hands in position, especially against opponents whose post-flop play is predictable. For example, a tight player has raised in early position. You know that if he has a hand like Kings or Queens, he is scared to death of an Ace when it flops. If the board comes lower than his hand, he’ll bet it until the sun doesn’t shine. You have pocket eights. Calling his three big blind raise is 10% of your stack and in most shallow money situations set mining is a leak. However, there is value in this situation because if he doesn’t have Aces (and the probability is he will not), you have additional ways of winning the pot besides hitting a set. This same play is a terrible one against a hyper-aggressive player who will bet regardless of what the flop is. Against that type of player, re-raising and not calling is a better option.

CALLING TO EXTRACT VALUE

Another good time to call a raise in the late stages of a tournament is when you have a big hand and are willing to take a risk at seeing a flop. Too many players look down at a hand like pocket Queens or Kings with 20 big blinds in their stack and think the only move they have is to push all-in. Unless the player is a calling station and will often call in this situation, you could be losing value by pushing. Many players when faced with a medium stack all-in will fold their hand.

If you just call, however, there is a very good chance they will put your stack to the test post-flop and you can pick up a much larger pot. Yes, there is an inherent risk in just calling in these situations. Your opponent can always hit their hand and bust you. This is a risk worth taking as the majority of the time you will win more than you lose. Tournament poker is a long-term game. You want to make the most profitable decision for the given circumstances you are facing with the hand that you have been dealt.

Key Point
One creative play during the late stages is to flat-call against tight opening raisers who will be wary of betting on Ace-high flops. It is also wise to call with big pairs in certain situations

Summary

You’ve probably noticed that there was not much discussion about what particular hands you should and should not be playing when facing a pre-flop raise. That’s because, as is the case with most things in poker, there is no definitive answer. What might be a calling hand against one player, could be a raising hand against another, and a folding hand another. Calling gets a bad reputation. People who call are labelled as calling station, fish, and donkeys. While aggressive poker is often the better course of action, calling can be the more logical choice in given situations. Understanding these situations and bringing out your inner calling station can help you efficiently accumulate more chips with less risk to your tournament life.