3rd March 2011 : No Calling Session

There was an interesting discussion today on The Hendon Mob Forum about the best advice that's improved your game. Sticking my neck out, I hazarded the advice that:

'If you're going to limp, be prepared to limp and let go.'


Sound advice from a serial-limper! However, one of the forum moderators (Grumbledook) made a small amendment to this:

'If you're going to limp, DON'T!'

Grumbledook went on to suggest that I play an entire session without ever calling. Now I'm always prepared to listen to advice from more experienced players so I decided to give this a go, and see how it worked for me.


So, I fired-up four tables of NL5, in my lunch-break; and primed my raise and fold buttons.

It wasn't as straightforward as I had expected it might be, as there are lots of spots (at NL5, at least) that are crying out for a 'call' viz. a 3xraise with 2 callers and a small pocket pair. I think I probably lost some value at times, but I think I gained a lot of value in other spots.

Stats for the session were:-

I finished almost 3 buy-ins up, which is damn nice for my lunch-break! Session results were:-

BR. currently stands at $165, and overall progress is:-

This was a very educational session of poker overall. It really made me think through each spot, fully... initially I thought I would just 'nit-up' (which I did, to a certain degree) but it also encouraged me to make aggressive plays, in position.

I'd definitely recommend any recreational micro-players like me, to give this challenge a go.