Explain the terminology used in the Charts

[internet]

Call 1 means you should call when one player other than the blinds has limped in. [A limper is someone who calls the blinds]

Call would mean that you could limp in without any callers.

"First in" means that no one has voluntarily put money in the pot, so Raise First In means you ought to raise if you are the first player to enter the pot.

[miket523]

Am I correct in understanding that the hands in the start chart from early position in an unraised pot labelled Call 1 should not be played under the gun?

[mchilger]

Yes. You need at least one player to limp in ahead of you other than the blinds. Matthew

[vatrlrman]

QJs is a Call 1 in EP...Does that mean it is not playable if you are right after BB since no one is in first?

I was counting BB as one in because I assumed he would call and "be in".

[robrobrob]

You are rtight. You need one player to call who is not in the blinds, so you cannot play it if you are first to act right after the BB. This position is referred to as Under the Gun, often abbreviated UTG.

rob

[mchilger]

VAT, just to be clear, the big blind is not counted in any of the charts. So Call 2 means that two players need to limp in before you. Matthew

[wuarhg]

Hi, I'm new to the forum

I don't understand one thing. Let me take an example.. In late position 98s Unraised pot would have to have atleast 3 callers to call, right?

And 87s would need atleast 4 callers to call. Isn't it better to play the worse hands with less callers? More callers = more chance of someone having a better hand? Or have I misunderstood?

[nsidestrate]

You first two statements are correct. You need at least that many callers. The reason is that those kinds of hands thrive on large pots and big odds. If you have 87, very likely flops that you would be happy about are things like AT9 or K65. They would give you straight draws. In order to (1) be sure you proper odds to call and (2) be sure you will gets of cash when you hit you prefer more players in the pot.

If you were in the pot with just one caller with your 87, you would only have one BB in the pot on the flop (4:1 odds) and two BB on the turn (2:1 odds). That isn't what you like. Your goal is to see the flop cheaply with many others and to get away when you don't hit the draw (or the occassional two pair or some such). When you don't hit, you fold for a small investment. When you do hit, you have lots of people to call your raises in the big rounds.

[wuarhg]

Ah! I absolutely forgot about more people equals better pot odds. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[mchilger]

Wuarhg, welcome to the Forum and thanks nside for responding...I´m out of town and have not had access. As Nside says, you play weaker hands when you can get in cheaply and have really good pot odds with a lot of callers to hopefully hit a big hand.

Matthew

[NYIsles]

Great book, Matthew... one question for clarification. Let's say you're on the button with 88. Four people call in front of you, then the cutoff raises. The chart says that in a raised pot, you should call with this hand in late position if there are already three callers. Does this mean that I should call the raise cold because of the original callers, or that I should fold because three people haven't yet called the reraise? My apologies if you've already answered this; I'm new to the site. Thanks,

[mchilger]

HI NY, welcome to the Forum. You can call as no one ever folds preflop once they have limped in (unless it is reraised). In this particular example there is a very good chance that there will be at least six opponents in the hand which justifies a call.

Matthew

[AseanK]

Matthew,

First of all... GREAT BOOK!!!! My question regarding the charts is... Let's say I am in EP with KJs which according to charts requires one caller after the blinds to consider "calling" a profitable decision. Now let's say the player before me folds but a new player that entered the game before the hand has had to post his blind to enter from middle or late position... does this new players blind now make my call profitable??

[mchilger]

Yes. I consider any player who has posted to be a "caller" for the charts.

Glad you liked the book.

Matthew

[FrancisB]

Hello all,

As a poker newbie (starting reading about it a week ago, and practicing against Turbo HE), I was delighted to find this site, and Matt's book.

My questions about the starting charts (or HE in general)

- Is it correct to say on the first round of betting (preflop) that the first to act (UTG) can't "bet", as the blinds have already "bet", so their action is "call" (and is refered to as limping) or raise or fold?

- After the first round of beting has occured, do you still consider the blinds as "blinds", or do you play from these positions as EP?

- "bet out" means what exactly? I'm assuming it means you bet?

Not sure if my questions make sense, but I'm still trying to digest and understand all the vocabulary in the book.

thanks in advance,
Francis