♥ How to play against a calling station

You have seen this player. You bet the flop, he calls. You bet the turn, he calls. On the river he shows second pair with a weak kicker and takes the pot because you were bluffing. He is not playing badly by accident. He is a calling station, and against him the moves that work on reasonable opponents cost you chips.

How to spot one

The signs show up quickly if you pay attention. He calls bets on several streets with weak hands. He rarely raises; he prefers to call. He folds little against big bets. At showdown he shows hands a normal player would have folded on the turn. If you take notes on your sessions, a line like "calls to the river with any pair" is worth more than any tell.

Be careful with conclusions from a single hand. Anyone can make a light call once. You are looking for a pattern that repeats.

Stop bluffing

A bluff works when the opponent folds often enough. Against someone who does not fold, the bluff loses its reason to exist. That includes big river semi-bluffs and double barrels with nothing. If your plan depends on him letting the hand go, change the plan.

That does not mean you never bet without a made hand. It means your bets need to be backed by something that wins when he calls.

Value bet thinner

This is where most of the money is. Against a normal player, top pair with a medium kicker on the river is sometimes a check, because only better hands call. Against a calling station, second pair, third pair and sometimes ace high call. That turns medium-strength hands into clear bets.

• Bet top pair on all three streets more often than you would against a regular.
• A strong second pair can be a river value bet if the board did not get scary.
• When you have a very strong hand, do not hide it with checks: he will call anyway.

Size up when you have it

If you know he calls, charge more. A third-pot bet lets him call cheaply with hands he would have called with two-thirds or full pot. With strong hands, bet bigger. The limit is how often he still calls: if very large bets start getting folds, go back to a middle size.

Respect the raise

The calling station calls a lot and raises little. So when he finally raises, he almost always has something strong. That is the moment to respect it and let go of hands you would defend against another player. The same read that makes you bet thinner for value should make you fold more when his behaviour changes.

Common mistakes

• Getting frustrated and trying to "teach him" with bigger bluffs. He does not learn and you lose more.
• Slowplaying strong hands. He calls anyway, so you give away streets of value.
• Calling his raises because "he always calls, he must be bluffing." Calling and raising are different things.

Patience and bankroll

Playing against someone who calls everything carries more variance than it looks. When he hits his draw on the river, he wins big pots you did not expect. That is part of the price of playing for value. Keep a bankroll suited to your stakes and track your sessions so you can tell bad runs from real mistakes.

This content is educational. Play only if you are 18 or older and within limits you can sustain. 18+ | Play responsibly.