Cold Call

Cold calling is distinct from defending your blind because you have no money already invested in the pot. This means you need a stronger hand to cold call than to defend from the blinds, since you are not getting a discount. In MTT poker, cold calling is a somewhat contentious action. Some strategies advocate for a minimal cold calling frequency, preferring to either 3-bet or fold. The rationale is that cold calling leaves you with a capped range (opponents know you do not have premiums) and risks facing a squeeze from players behind you. However, in practice, cold calling with position is still a valuable part of a balanced strategy. From the Cutoff or Button, cold calling an early position open with hands like suited connectors, medium pairs, and suited broadways exploits your positional advantage. These hands benefit from seeing a flop cheaply and can win big pots when they connect. The danger of cold calling increases when players behind you are aggressive 3-bettors. If the player on the Button or in the blinds frequently squeezes, your cold call puts you in a sandwich where you face a larger raise with a medium-strength hand. For this reason, your cold calling range should be tighter when aggressive players are behind you. Stack depth also matters. At 100bb, cold calling is fine because you have room to maneuver postflop. At 30bb, cold calling becomes less effective because the implied odds shrink and you are more vulnerable to squeezes. At very short stacks, you should almost never cold call, preferring to 3-bet shove or fold.