Before you hit that call button...

[grafyx]

I have a leak in my game and have recently discovered that at least one other 2p2er has the same leak. My leak is that I don't spend enough time thinking about critical decisions late in an MTT. I play solid poker (or my luckbox is working exceptionally well) and make it down to the final 40. Then in an instant, I rush a decision and I am out or severely crippled.

As an example of this leak in action, consider the following hand from last nights 55k 11r on stars. There are about 40 people remaining, hero is in the top 15 when the following hand is played:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30000 (8 handed) converter

MP1 (t210431)
Hero (t398112)
CO (t1029815)
Button (t51698)
SB (t145681)
BB (t249416)
UTG (t203752)
UTG+1 (t431298)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t80000</font>, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">BB raises to t247916</font>, Hero instacalls t167916.

I'm not going to say at this point whether I think calling or folding is the correct action for Hero, but I claim that instacalling here is a huge mistake. There is no way that you can make this critical decision so quickly.

What I would like to propose for this thread is that we construct a script the we can run through in our heads before hitting the call or fold button (or list of factors to consider) when making a decision like this one. Once we have a script, I think we could test it on this example hand and try to determine whether calling/folding is the most +$EV action.

A few items I would like to propose to be part of the script:

* Take a deep breath first and try to relax.

* Compute the pot odds

* Assign a hand range for to your opponent

* Compute your stack sizes as a result of each of the following: folding, call and win, call and lose.

I hope you guys can help me construct a good script and plug this huge leak!

[JoaoPinto]

I find I do things like this a lot at final tables these days. I didn't used to because when I made one it was a big deal and I fought tooth and nail over every chip. These days it's not such a big deal any more and I sometimes fail to get out of the super aggressive mode I'm in on the bubble.

I know a guy who when he makes it deep takes out a box of real chips and sets the equivalent of his stack beside him. When he makes a call or a bet he actually lifts the real chips and sets them off to the side. He reckons it makes him think more about making the call as it takes longer to a. lift the chips b. count them out and c. set them down as opposed to clicking the insta call button. I haven't done this yet as I'm too lazy but it might be something you could try.

[rockin]

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I find I do things like this a lot at final tables these days. I didn't used to because when I made one it was a big deal and I fought tooth and nail over every chip. These days it's not such a big deal any more and I sometimes fail to get out of the super aggressive mode I'm in on the bubble.

I know a guy who when he makes it deep takes out a box of real chips and sets the equivalent of his stack beside him. When he makes a call or a bet he actually lifts the real chips and sets them off to the side. He reckons it makes him think more about making the call as it takes longer to a. lift the chips b. count them out and c. set them down as opposed to clicking the insta call button. I haven't done this yet as I'm too lazy but it might be something you could try.

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So, if your multi-tabling and accidentally take it out of the wrong stack then...

Interesting idea. I think anything that makes us take a decent amount of time to make a rational decision is a good thing. I am prone to making insta-decisions a little too much. A big reason for this is the low limits I play. I would hope I can plug this leak/break this habit before I move up in limits.

Grayfx, have you tried just counting to three/five before you make every decision. I know, for me, it would be extemely difficult to do this every time I had a decision to make since I multi-table and it would be very time consuming, but maybe just the hands that we are going to be, or are thinking about being, involved in. I really need to train myself to do this.

I hope someone has something more useful than this, because I think there are a lot of us insta-players that want to kick the habit.

[uclabruinz]

I insta-fold! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[seke2]

If you read my tournament report from my 20/180 3rd place finish, I did the same exact thing when I busted out. In my case my hand was QQ, but still, after some analysis, it turned out that my "instacall" was actually a -$EV decision. Definitely like this idea of having sort of a formulated script for anytime you have to decide whether to click on call or fold for all of your chips.

[Sam T.]

I think there are a couple of strategies (none of which I follow) in addition to the ones you propose.

1. Don't play with your hand on the mouse. Scientists recently discovered that the highest concentration of "Calling Station" cells are in the index finger. Strange but true.

2. Unless it is an autofold pre-flop, bet at a specific time. I saw teecoy doing this, and I've heard other good players talking about "timing of bets" so there may be something to it. On Stars do nothing until the little 60-second timer comes up, or your avatar has flashed x number of times.

I think it would be +EV to incorporate time to think into our "betting routine".

During that time, ask yourself:
1. What do I have?
2. What does he have?
3. What does he think I have? (The dreaded level three thinking!)

And because it's more explicit, I throw in, "How likely is it that the villain is making this play with a hand that (taking into account pot odds, etc.) I beat?"

That's kind of crazy. Not that this is such a unique leak, I'm sure, but I just logged the same exact damn leak in my self-poker assessment (which you all should do, by the way). Here's how it was logged:

The Focus Area:
"Does not rush to make any decision (pensive approach)"

The Assessment:
5 out of 10: Needs Major Work

Here's my example (which is very similar to yours):
2/21/06: Playing in 200+16 WSOPC/WPT Winner's Choice Satellite on FT. Down to 51 players (top 2 get prize packages). Blinds are at 80/160 and my stack is about 4,200. I open-raise to 480 from CO with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and BB (JohnnyBax), who has been pushing stack in a lot lately and has me covered, moves all-in. I insta-call to see his 66, which hold up.

Whether calling here was correct or not is irrelevant. I was most upset with myself that I did not even take the time to assess the situation. Aside from improving my decision-making for that instance, I think this also works to just understand concepts better and game dynamics, and will help your game in the long-run.

The frustrating thing is, I would never in a million years make an a call this fast in live poker. So, unfortunately, I think this is another symptom of having your online came divert too far from your live game.

Anyway, good post. Hope this generates some discussion.

[planoj]

I agree completely with your point about instacalling, and I have the same leak.

On this particular hand, I would say calling the reraise was probably your second mistake.

[rockin]

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I agree completely with your point about instacalling, and I have the same leak.

On this particular hand, I would say calling the reraise was probably your second mistake.

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There is nothing wrong with stealing with any 2, maybe 87o might have been better, but I definitely like A3o better than A6o.

[Fredrik]

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I agree completely with your point about instacalling, and I have the same leak.

On this particular hand, I would say calling the reraise was probably your second mistake.

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There is nothing wrong with stealing with any 2, maybe 87o might have been better, but I definitely like A3o better than A6o.

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How is calling an all-in considered 'stealing'?