How to Deal with Calling Stations When You Play Poker Online

When you play online poker regularly at betting sites and utilize techniques tailored to different players, you have a deeper understanding of the seemingly limitless opponents you will face. No two poker players think or play the game the same way, especially considering the various varieties and formats available. However, certain types of play and methods are comparable, whether online or live poker.

The Calling Station

The finest poker players all agree that opponents that might be defined as “calling stations” are generally the best ones to have at your table.

Because these players are eager to call large bets anytime, they touch a piece of the board (in flop games), and playing against them is simple.

These opponents will help you improve your skills in playing poker by never putting up any opposition and calling their chips off until they have nothing left.

While calling stations are typically relatively easy to play against, specific alterations to your overall approach are required. What works against good players frequently does not work against them, and vice versa. So, here are three pointers on how to deal with calling stations effectively that might help when you play poker online. 

Tips in Dealing With Calling Stations

Play And Enjoy The Opportunity

The first and most obvious aspect of playing calling stations is that they want to be engaged in as many hands as possible. They’re willing to give out their chips with no fuss and don’t mind who gets them, so you may as well take the opportunity.

You should ideally have the position on the player you specify as a calling station to change things. When they enter the pot, you should search for squeeze play possibilities. You want to be the only two players in the pot, with no other players interfering with your intentions. It will also help you improve your strategies at online poker real money games.

Because each table is unique, the specific approach for achieving this isolation will change. The remainder of the table will sometimes let you get away with anything, allowing you to isolate the station and play several pots against them ruthlessly. Other players may also be seeking a piece of the action, so you may need to temper your aggression.

Make Large Value Bets

While professional poker players consider bet size with pot size, calling stations typically view their hands and the pot. They don’t mind the massive bet if they feel their hand is strong enough to reach.

One of the easiest methods to take advantage of these players is to increase your bet sizes on every block.

You don’t have to worry about hiding your hand’s strength. When you have a strong hand, place your bets on the flop, turn, and river. It applies in both tournaments and poker games online.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should immediately shove all-in on a flop, but if you’d generally bet half the pot in a given circumstance, you may go whole pot or even a touch over versus a presumed calling station. They’ll keep phoning anyway, so you’re wasting money by utilizing your standard size.

Be fast to modify and aim for maximum value against these players, and if you find them changing and folding more frequently, drop your betting size.

Never Deceive a Calling Station.

Bluffing is a feature of poker and has a place in the game, but it is only beneficial when it makes sense. Bluffing against a calling station is rarely a wise idea. Someone willing to go all-in with a hand as poor as the third or fourth pair is not someone you want to be bluffing with.

One of the first lessons that competent players learn about the game is that they cannot win every pot. Sometimes you have to accept that this one is going to another person and move on.

When you find yourself in a pot with such a player, there is no need to continue betting. You can take a little bet on the flop to test whether they’ve completely missed, but once they call, it’s time to call it quits.

Attempting to bluff a calling station might eat into your profits over time. Why bother bluffing these players when you can try playing various other strategies? Stick to a consistent and logical approach, bet large when you have it, and let them win a tiny pot now and again when you miss.

Keep an Eye Out For a Calling Station.

Keep an eye on your table’s players and pick who to bluff and who you need to reveal down powerful cards. Calling stations are one of the nicest sorts of opponents since you are generally the one taking control of the hand and determining where the action goes.

As soon as you sit down at the table, begin monitoring the other players and categorizing them in your head or utilizing the built-in notes option in most online poker sites. It will make decision-making more manageable when you go up against these players.

Conclusion

In most circumstances, calling stations aren’t particularly amateur players. Sometimes it’s just a tactic that has worked for someone, and they have persisted with it. If you don’t respond quickly, it might also present them with a lot of money. 

Although some players are irritated with calling stations because they do not permit them to play genuine poker, you should not be. In any game, they are your guaranteed source of improving your skills, and you should consider yourself fortunate to have them.

Try these tips as you go to GGPoker, the world’s largest poker room, to select a game you want. You may meet players who like to call, and these tips might help you during the game. So, sign up at GGPoker today!