As a new poker player you might be confused about some of the terminology used in the game. For example, you might hear people talking about “calling” a bet and not really understand what it means. In this article we’ll take a look at what is a call in poker and some of the times when it makes sense to call.
In poker a call involves adding chips to the pot equal to the amount that was previously bet. The rules of the game state that a player must either call the previous bet or raise the same amount to stay in the hand. Players that do not call the previous bet will lose their chips to the other players in the hand.
When an opponent makes a bet and you have a good hand, it is usually a good idea to call the bet. This will prevent you from giving away the strength of your hand and will also help you to avoid getting bluffed out by your opponent. Of course, there are some circumstances where raising instead of calling is the correct decision.
There are many different ways to play a hand of poker. Generally speaking, the first player to act will open the betting by placing a bet. Then other players may check, call, or raise the bet. If you raise the bet, you must deal with calls and folds from other players in your hand.
In most cases, if you have a weaker hand than your opponent and are concerned they might have it beat, you should call the bet rather than raise it. A raise in this situation will likely only end up costing you more of your stack as your opponent will be able to tell that you have a strong hand and are trying to force them to showdown theirs.
One exception to this rule is when you have a strong enough hand to make a bluff against your opponent. In this case, you can sometimes call a bet with the intention of making a bluff on the river card. This is known as a hero call and can be a very effective way to win a pot.
Often, you will want to call a bet when you have a good hand that isn’t very strong, such as middle pair. When this is the case, you can usually expect your opponent to have it beat and you should call in order to minimize your chances of losing your stack.
Whether to call or raise is ultimately down to the situation at hand and how confident you are in your hand’s strength compared to your opponent’s. In most public cardrooms, putting a chip in the pot of any value that is greater than the previous bet without a verbal action declaring otherwise will be considered a call. However, a player can still indicate that they are checking by tapping the table as if to check.