Flat Call – Better C-Bet Scare than a Raise?
Can a flat call be scarier than a raise?
The flat call is a very multidimensional play in this increasingly aggressive world of poker online that we live in. In deep stack tournament where 3 and 4-betting run rampant, a thinking player can use the flat-call to his advantage.
In the old days, much like checking, the flat-call meant weakness. If you called someone’s bet on the flop, it meant you kind of liked what you saw and would like to see another card. It still is this for a lot of older online poker players, who like to see all of the cards before getting a large portion of their chips in the middle. But for an advanced player, a flat-call can be a message to your opponent that you’re content to keep calling his bets.
This certainly can scare a person who might be continue-betting the flop. If they have nothing and bluff the flop and you flat-call, they are going to think twice about betting that turn if they don’t improve. If they end up checking the turn, you can go ahead and bet it and take charge of the hand. If you happened to be on a draw, you’re now more likely to see the river card for free by inducing your opponent to check the turn.
The same pros about the flat call are also its cons. You’re seeing more cards, which in turn means possibly improving your opponent’s hand as well as your own. If you have a hand like middle pair or top pair with a weak kicker, you’re going to become scared if overcards appear on the turn or river. A raise might be the right move if you want to protect your hand. At the same time, if you’re deep and you make a raise with 2nd pair, you might be opening yourself up to a 3-bet from the aggressor. Against an aggressive poker player, I like flat calling for two reasons. It gets you to the turn cheaper and it still gives you the edge of seeing what your opponent is going to do in first position on that next card.
