How do I get information from a Calling station?

Or maybe this should be how do I beat a Calling station? For the first time last night I ran into someone I would term a calling station. He was large stack at the table when I came in so I watched him for a bit. He would almost always call PFRs that were twice normal size and I saw him muck lots of hands after calling bets on every street. From this I wrote him off as nothing to worry about but did go to the trouble to move positions at the table to gain position on his big stack.

Assuming he didn’t have me beat on decent holdings he proceeded to win in showdowns against me several times.

I’ll admit that I underestimated him as I did see him fold a few hands mid stream but not as often as I would expect a good player.

Anyway, my question is, how can I gain information on what he holds if he never raises. Do I just camp and not push medium hands against him?

You got it, see as many flops with good drawing hands as cheaply as you can, draw as cheaply as you can (but build the pot). NEVER bluff, and limit your continuation bets. Push when you're sure you have the best hand. You are correct, you won't be able to get information if he never bets, you're mostly just playing your own cards against him.

Man, I never realized how much info I get on peoples bet/check/raise actions. I ran into this calling station like a truck hitting a wall.

Live and learn.

i believe check/calling is the least info you can give in poker and i use it alot. However i need more info on the situation, sng?, ring? , MTT. they're all different situations that require differnt actions - I assume it's all nl.

This was NL ring at $.01/$.02 level.

I agree that check/calling is giving out the least info.

Side note: The more I try and get tricky and use semi bluff, bluffs and raise/fold-only-from-LP the more money I give out. These are just not working out for me the way I had hoped. Honestly, I do the best just checking/calling until I have a made hand then raising for value. I have to assume this is due to my inexperience applying the techniques though.

Bluffing is working out fine for uncontested pots. It’s easy to see when you can take down a pot on the flop, turn, or river when everyone is checking or a scare card hits. Bluffing HU is not working though and I am going to stop it till I gain more exp.

Semi bluffing is just handing out more $. I hit so rarely that it just can’t be worth it.

Similarly, with raise/fold only from LP I am just handing out more $. Well, that’s they way it seems but I haven’t given it enough chance yet. I need more than one nights’ exp to make a judgment on this one.

At the .01/.02 limit most people are calling stations and the game is really different than at the higher limits. Bluffs have almost no value because everyone is playing with change and doesnt really care too much about the money. I feel semi bluffs go down in valuse because people will often call you later and will often not fold to your semibluff. It makes more sense to draw to your hands the have them call you.

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Originally Posted by copa

At the .01/.02 limit most people are calling stations and the game is really different than at the higher limits. Bluffs have almost no value because everyone is playing with change and doesnt really care too much about the money. I feel semi bluffs go down in valuse because people will often call you later and will often not fold to your semibluff. It makes more sense to draw to your hands the have them call you.

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Thanks copa.

I have thought for a long time that there is only so much one can learn at the micro limits. My thinking was that the opponents are not aware enough to respond to the different tactics and as such you can’t apply them and learn how they work. Well, that is my thought process anyway. On the other hand, I wondered if I was just making excuses why I shouldn’t bother with the more sophisticated tactics. Hehe.

I guess I’ll go back to what works for me and wait until I move up to try new things again. I need a few more winning nights and I’ll have enough to move to $.05/$.10. I think those stakes will play exactly the same but at least I am moving up.

Sounds like a good plan. Hopefully as you move up your opponents will begin to value their money more and you can apply some of the more technical strategies more effectively. Good luck.

Do you need info beyond he is a calling station? Hit those trips+ and go to work!

In your situation, I would recommend reading my theory on counter-play. You can find it by searching for the keywork "counter-play" on the forum or by going to the post "How does a fish think" and scrolling down. I developed it for situations just like this - 50%+ preflop callers who play wacky cards from any position. And it works. I've tested it up to .50/$1 NL on certain sites. As long as the preflop percentage is high, preflop raises don't limit your competition to 1 or 2, etc. Read the post. It explains it all.

I made it easy and just started a counter-play thread.

Enjoy.-

Thanks aokrongly. I'll check it out.

Also, Eric, if you want to play some low limit against some bad players, try playing some limit .25/.50 or .10/.20. These are some tables with a lot of bad players, and you should be able to win some money there without risking much more than the .01/.02 NL. Limit can give you some good experience on calculating pot and implied odds ... it's all very structured as they say :)