The secret to success in a game like poker is probably having a clear strategy and being able to execute it perfectly when the time comes. Knowing how to visualize in your head all the situations that it is possible to encounter around a poker table and knowing how to act according to each of them are two elements that every player should master. But since this game is not only purely mathematical and also involves an element of chance, the professional will also sometimes have to know how to improvise and use his intuition. An intuition that could lead him to both success and failure, because the line between the two is often very fine.
This is why in poker, and in particular in Texas Hold’em, you must always be attentive to the ” hero calls ». UN hero call could be defined as a hand that is played until the river but in which the player is fully aware that he has very little chance of winning, because there are a large number of possible hands superior to his. THE hero calls can be winners or losers, and just as they can deal a terrible blow to your chip stack, they can also build it up until you get out of the mess you’ve gotten yourself into. This is why it is important to include them in your strategy during online tournaments.
First of all, you have to see that in all the manuals you explain how to play poker, the hero calls are always strongly discouraged. And if you think about it coldly, it seems logical. Make a call ultra-risky river with a weak hand, which could easily be beaten by your opponent, looks like suicide, unless you’re playing against a novice. In such a situation, it would seem more logical to withdraw or attempt a big bluff, the only way that could allow us to win chips with such a hand.
However, any regular player knows that anything is possible in poker, both in Texas Hold’em and in the alternative variants. In the great history of poker, on a deja vu of hero calls which surprised everyone. Some have let themselves be tempted by the showdown, with the risks that entails. Others forced their opponent with a stronger hand to fold to the confidence displayed by their rival. And in a few rare cases, there was a total change in the balance of power with the appearance of a last saving card that upset the whole game. And as everything is possible, we will try to integrate the hero calls our way of playing.
The key lies in the bluffs
To use the hero calls, it goes without saying that we must clearly have in mind the usual classification of hands in poker. Everything depends on the latter because we will find ourselves in situations with weak and low hands, and therefore with a priori lots of options for our opponent to fight at the river with a better hand. But all this will also depend on our opponent’s cards, because there is always the possibility of being faced with a big bluff from our competitor.
But to detect a bluff, it will be essential to know how each of our opponents plays and to have identified something that will have given us the impression of being faced with a bluff. Jumping into this theory with both feet by following one’s intuition alone and without more clues does not seem like an intelligent decision, but it will nevertheless be necessary to risk it to achieve a hero call victorious and commendable. It will therefore be necessary to have courage, because any other player in the same conditions would fold without hesitation.
One of the things you will have to rely on will be the stakes. Thanks to our experience on the French market, we can now tell you that the more a player has bet during the same game, the lower the chances that he will be making a bluffand more our possibilities of making a hero call wisely will decrease. Similarly, the smaller the bet before the river and more our attempt to hero call might turn out to be commendable. It is important to always keep this in mind so as not to go into tilt if the scale begins to tip to the wrong side.
Note that it is also important to differentiate between the terms of hero call and a “bluff hunter” player, because these are independent and have several differences. The most important being that the bluff hunter river knowing that any bluff attempt by his opponent will be neutralized by the power of his hand. We are therefore talking here about strategy, about something mathematical, and no longer about intuition. In the hero calls, this security of knowing oneself superior to any bluff does not exist. In truth, even fairly weak bluffs could cost you dearly if they go through.
Details that the bluff at the river is not a very effective practice among French players. In some scrappy games with friends this can happen, but it’s far from the norm in the market. It will therefore be necessary to take all these details into account to make a hero call at the rare appropriate times, and pray for the future of our stack during it. But it remains a notion that must be mastered in order to hope to play the best possible poker.
