14/01/2012 PKR _ How to make successful hero calls

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HoZ to make successful hero calls

There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity...

By Alex Martin on Sunday 16 Aug 2009 09:00

Part of the following series: It's a betting game

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Hero calls are more e[hilarating than big bluffs Zhen \ou get themright, but does that mean \ou should make them a big part of \ourgame?

As Im sure you are well aware, a hero call is a call, generally made on theriver, in which a player has a very marginal hand but one thats narrowly betterthan the player making the bet. The hero phrase is used to describe the guts(or stupidity) of a call made where generally all the caller can beat is a bluff.The term has been popularised in recent years after players such as KennySick-call Kenny Tran have shown what is possible when you have thecourage to trust your reads implicitly.

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However, while successful hero calls do make you feel like Superman, ingeneral they are a symptom of Fancy Play Syndrome and require an accuracyof decision that is incredibly tough to deliver with any consistency. In the longrun, you will most likely lose a LOT of money if you make hero calls a regularpart of your game.

The problem is that hero calls are, like true acts of heroism, exceptionallytough to pull off. Without having a really good grounding in some of the finertechnical aspects on no-limit hold em, attempts at heroism will generally onlyhurt you and your hourly rate. Nevertheless, there are some spots in which ahero call might be the most +EV line. But there are a wide variety of factors tobe considered and weighed up before you proceed.

Hero call or ]ero call?

Obviously, before even contemplating such a high variance call, you need atonne of information about your opponent. You need to have a good grasp oftheir hand ranges and know they are capable of bluffing in this spot and,perhaps more importantly, that they think you are capable of folding.

You also need to be confident that other, less risky lines will not yield a betterresult. This is the main reason hero calls are such a dirty example of fancyplay syndrome there is almost always a much more +EV line to exploit.Usually, when you have little to no hand, but fancy your opponent to be weak,there are all sorts of lines you could take to win the pot. The hallmark of a truehero call is to check-call out of position, but this is perhaps the weakest andmost passive of your options.

Any line that involves a lot of calling or check-calling should generally be seenas a mistake.Of course, no angle should ever be dismissed entirely. In certain situationsand against certain opponents allowing someone to bluff into your marginalholding is the best way to get paid. But in most circumstances, so-called herocalls are just an excuse for bad play.

'Sick call' Kenn\ Tran in action

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14/01/2012 PKR _ How to make successful hero calls

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Considering a hero call

Okay, lets get straight to the crux of the matter: making successful hero callsis not easy. You must examine a whole range of factors and how they interactbefore making your decision. Lets look at one example. You are 250 bigblinds deep at the start of the hand and you have 7s-7d. The button (who hasyou covered) opens and you call. The flop comes 8h-6h-2h. You check, hebets, you call. The turn is the 5s. You check, he bets, you call. The river is theKh. You check, your opponent bets and the decision whether or not to makethe call is on you. So what factors should be incorporated into your thinking?

1. Wh\ did \ou pla\ the hand so passivel\?

Reasons to play a hand this passively include the fact that your opponent is amaniac bluffer or exceptionally aggressive and will routinely semi-bluff raiseand pure bluff raise on any street. When you are playing deep-stacked againstthis sort of opponent you are forced to play a hand more passively, as therisks involved in playing a big pot are far higher.

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2. Hand reading

In most cases this is the most important factor to consider. What does yourhand look like in the villains eyes? What level is the villain thinking at? Will heunderstand that the bulk of your range is a weak one-pair type hand? What isthe villain trying to tell you? Does it add up?

3. Histor\

Does the villain have some crazy history with you? Did you just make a hugecall on him in the last hour? Are you seen as crazy/solid/weak? These areimportant considerations.

4. Image

Does your opponent see himself as having a clean image? Is he goodenough to attempt to abuse this? Is he just another idiot without a care in theworld?

These are the basic considerations to make in general play. When making abig hero call you should also factor in madness, timing and bet sizing. Is theguy a nut job? This should have a significant bearing on whether or not youmake that hero call. Did he bet super-fast without thinking on the biggest riverscare card in the history of poker? Did he pause on the flop for a long time,probably thinking about how to extract the most money (with air we know wehave to bluff, with monsters we need to pause and think)? Does his bet looklike it wants a call? Does his betting make sense? Was he betting to price outa draw? Is he trying to make his river bet look like hes milking you? Balance allthe information you have at your disposal and call or fold accordingly.

Relative strength

When you are contemplating a big river call with a very marginal holding youhave to understand that on some boards relative hand strength is incrediblyimportant. Say you and I play a pot. We clash for one moment in time in a six-max cash game on PKR. In a raised pot the two of us see a flop. Just onesingle pot. The flop comes 3s-5s-7s. I check and you bet. I call. The turncomes the 9h and we both check. The river is the Ks, putting four to a flush onthe board. I bet huge and you raise all-in. Given that we have no history and noimage in short, the hand is in a vacuum this hand is quite interesting. If you

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are effectively representing the nuts or air and have no history of value-bettingthin, the relative strength of hands becomes very important. If I am holding the8s, it becomes effectively as strong as the Qs, given that you will never value-shove over this river with worse than the nuts. This concept is fundamental tomaking some of the more deceptive cash-game plays against very goodplayers.

The maUk of a heUo

My good buddy Patrik Antonius let me sit behind him during a small informalgame in Vegas recently and I witnessed a hand that illustrates relative handstrength nicely. (Okay, it was actually on High Stakes Poker but I digress.)The action starts at 5:22.

This hand, in which Antonius calls an $80,000 river bet from Phil Laak withnothing but a pair of Fours, is probably one of the most discussed hands of2009. If you dissect the action, it is an incredibly good call from Antonius. Thishand is actually the epitome of a good hero call. The money is deep and PhilLaak appears to be playing very aggressively. At no point in the hand canAntonius realistically raise without risking getting himself blown off the pot (witha pair of Fours on the flop and, better still, a flush draw on the turn). The

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ShaUe

money is very deep and check-calling out of position is pretty much the onlygood option available.

The river is a fantastic example of good hand reading. Would Phil Laak makesuch a big value bet on this river with A-K or A-A? Doubtful, if you havewatched him on this series in recent years. He ends up selling a story thatmakes little sense, given that he probably checks back Q-Q on the turn andvery rarely raises small pairs and suited connectors preflop. He represents K-K and only K-K. All his other likely holdings are bluffs, which is why Antoniussnaps him off.

Antonius drew on all the information at his disposal hand ranges, timing, betsizing and player history (they had played each other pretty hard beforehand) to make a great decision and scoop a $287k pot. Must be nice.

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CommenWV

u need an idiot to bluff with those cards too

Comment by KinPin - 20/08/09 (Report)

Damn, no need to rub everyones face in it!

Comment by icewolf101 - 17/08/09 (Report)

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2 commentsShaUe

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