Cold Calling Too Often Is a Losing Strategy in Poker

27 Mar 2026

Intermediate

This material is for medium-skilled players

As the title suggests, today we are going to talk about cold calling as another major mistake that many poker players make.

Do you actually know what a cold call is?

For example, if you call from BB , it is not considered a cold call because you already have 1 bb in the pot.

If one player opens, another player 3-bets, and you call, that is also considered a cold call of a 3-bet.

Now ask yourself: how often do you cold call during a session?

The truth is, you should not be doing it very often.

In fact, some tournament players even over-3-bet and still generate +EV.

In cash games, however, you can get punished for excessive aggression. Stacks are deeper, and opponents have more room to respond — they can 4-bet more often, call wider, and apply pressure postflop.

In tournaments, stacks are shorter and the risk of elimination is high. This makes players more cautious, so they tend to fold more often against 3-bets. Many weaker players simply give up, allowing you to pick up easy EV.

Tournaments are full of weaker players, which makes overusing 3-bets less risky. But you will not find the same number of arguments in favor of cold calling — and that is not a coincidence.

When you 3-bet, you often isolate and play heads-up. Even if you do not, you still keep the initiative. With cold calls, you run into several problems.

When you cold call, you must always consider the players behind you:

• Players with short stacks (10–30 bb) can shove and deny your equity
• Aggressive players can squeeze frequently
• You may be forced to fold and lose 2–4 bb without seeing a flop

These small losses add up quickly and are very hard to recover.

Later in tournaments, edges between players become closer, and a strong winrate might only be around 5 bb/100. If you repeatedly lose 2–3 bb without realizing any equity, it will significantly hurt your long-term results.

If you analyze databases, you will notice that calling can sometimes be profitable from specific positions — mainly BB and BU.

Big Blind

Calling from the BB can be acceptable because you already invested 1 bb, there are no players behind you, and you get better pot odds. Because of this, calling becomes less negative than folding.

Button

Cold calling on the BTN is much harder to make profitable.

If someone opens to 2.5bb and you call, you need to win at least 250bb per 100 hands in those spots just to break even. If players behind you 3-bet often, it becomes even harder.

However, BTN is still the best position (outside the BB) to call because you have position for the entire hand, get more information, and can win pots on unfavorable boards for the opener.

CO and Earlier Positions

Cold calling becomes significantly worse from earlier positions.

BTN behind you is highly incentivized to squeeze, and you will often be out of position. Even if you call a squeeze, BTN will still act last, putting you in difficult spots.

You might think that cold calling from SB is easier because you already invested 0.5 bb. In reality, it is even worse than folding in most cases.

If SB calls, BB gets great pot odds and often joins the pot. You end up in a multiway pot, out of position, with very little information. Bluffing becomes difficult, and your hand becomes hard to realize.

• Key takeaway: cold calling can be profitable on the BB, but almost never on the SB.

In the past, cold calling used to be more profitable. Players would call with wide ranges, see a flop, and then simply value bet opponents who could not fold top pair.

That strategy does not work anymore.

The player pool today is much more educated than it was 10–15 years ago. Players understand that in big multiway pots, one pair is often not strong enough. As a result, implied odds are lower.

Bluffing is also harder, since you are often up against one or more players who connected with the board.

Whenever I notice that I am cold calling too much and playing too passively — usually when I am tired or distracted — I switch to a simple rule: I only allow myself to 3-bet or fold preflop if someone has already opened.

Every time I do this, my results improve.

You should try it as well. If you do not have a large enough sample, switch to a 3-bet only strategy. Your results will improve. If you believe you can cold call profitably, collect a large sample to prove it.

But for most players, frequent cold calling leads to passive play and mediocre long-term results.

Cold calling too often is a common leak that costs players a lot of money.

• Most profit comes from aggressive play
• Cold calling creates difficult situations
• Position and players behind you matter a lot
• BB is the main position where calling is acceptable
• SB cold calls are usually losing

If you want to improve your results, reduce unnecessary cold calls and focus on more aggressive decisions.