Raising hands & calling hands

[Newmanseye]

There are hands to raise with and never call with, was a Maxim i learned from the first poker book I ever read. given the way the dynamic of poker has changed, the mutating styles of play, does this statement still hold true?

discuss

[bhoywonder]

this statement is telling you that u cant play with hand X but must with hand Y...

if this were true then the game of poker would have been cracked by a computer

it isnt

Poker is a psychological game at its heart,where often the cards have little do to with the action..

However a good,solid gameplan will you get you places ,but maybe not the peak..

[Royal Flush]

However a good,solid gameplan will you get you places ,but maybe not the peak..

wow best poker sentence i have ever read!

[Longy]

Well you are describing the gap concept, coined by Skylansky.

Which is true, if you think someones open range is something like a7+,44+,kq. To call an all in you would be ill advised to call with a7 as the rest of his range crushes you. So you can raise with a7 and not call with a7.

Poker is so situational that while this concept runs true, you are better considering situations and there are other things to consider. Immediate pot odds, implied odds, history and metagame reasons etc.

The changing face of poker doen't stop the basic concepts being true, it just means ppls ranges are different.

[bhoywonder]

However a good,solid gameplan will you get you places ,but maybe not the peak..

wow best poker sentence i have ever read!

sarcy phuqer

[Grier78]

Raising hands are those where you believe you have the best hand and raise for value/protection.

Calling hands are those where you think you are behind (at the moment) but have pot/implied odds to stay in the hand.

The exception is small pairs where you are probably statistically ahead (marginally) but will never know if you are winning on a flop unless you hit a set.

That is not to say that people may play these hands differently to mix up their play/bluff/play like a donkey.