Reverse Poker Tells -
Snap Calling:
When you call an all-in,
do it quickly!

Reverse Poker Tells - A loose calling image in a Sit-N-Go can sometimes deter other players from pushing on your big blind, allowing you to win a few more uncontested pots.

In addition to simply calling slightly looser ( discussed here ), you can cultivate a looser calling image by insta-calling when you do call.

Reverse Poker Tells Example #1, It's 5-handed and you are in the big blind with a really weak hand like J3 offsuit, and a winning regular player with only 2.2 BBs pushes all-in from the small blind after no one else enters the pot. It's obvious you have to call here with any two cards, because you are getting 2.6-to-1 odds, and this guy is probably pushing any two cards.

So here I like to insta-call. Don't pretend to contemplate it. You knew from the time the cards were dealt 10 seconds ago that if everyone folded to him, he'd shove and you'd be calling. So do it quickly.

The good players around the table may not think much of it, because they know it was a standard call. But the recreational players will sometimes think "Wow, he didn't even think about folding J3! He probably defends his big blind against all-ins pretty loosely." This can make them think twice about whether or not to shove on you in the future.

Plus it can be a subconscious deterrent even for the knowledgable player that pushed on you. It's an unpleasant and startling feeling to try to steal the blinds and get snap-called. It makes it seem like you call more often than you actually do if you "fold silently" and "CALL VIOLENTLY".

Conversely, whenever you take a long time to call an all-in, some will think things such as "Wow, that guy was actually thinking about folding AJ! I'm going to push on this guy all day."

You don't want that.

A lot of players will take a longer time to make a no-brainer call, because they subconsciously feel that if they call immediately and then get shown a dominating hand by their opponent, it will be humiliating.

Reverse Poker Tells Example #2, it's 4-handed and the bubble has lasted several orbits with many all-ins, and the short stack has always survived. At this point, the blinds are really high making all the stacks short. And everyone is pretty close to even, having around 5 BBs each. Emotions are high. Nobody wants to be the one to finish 4th.

The hero is dealt ace-jack suited in the big blind, and it's folded to the small blind who pushes all-in. This is a no-brainer call for the AJs. The hero would rather two other players get all-in against each other, but AJs is just too strong to fold and the hero knows it. So what is he waiting for?

After several seconds he calls and the small blind shows Q8. The big blind waited before calling, so he could save face if the small blind turned over something like AK or JJ. He wanted to be able to silently say "see how good of a player I am? I almost made a spectacular fold." It's a form of whining, and it should be avoided.

There is no value in saving face in this way. What the hero has actually done is made it look like he's playing scared, which will invite other players to shove on him at will in the future.

At the point the small blind shoved and the big blind was contemplating a call, the other players around the table were wondering what the big blind's hand was. The longer he took, the weaker his hand appeared to be. When he finally called and showed such a strong hand, everyone was probably shocked and was thinking "Wow, that guy was actually thinking about folding AJ! I'm going to push on him every chance I get."

If you do actually need time to figure out whether or not to call, then definitely take the time. The most important thing is to make the correct decision, but whenever you know for sure you are calling, snap it!

There's yet another way to deter players from shoving on your big blind.

It's another of the reverse poker tells called the slow-fold. The slow-fold is most powerful on the bubble.

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