Beating up on calling stations

You have to love calling stations, those loose-passive donators who will pay off every made hand. Calling stations put the most money in with the worst of it, and that's where the profits come from.

But calling stations suck out. They make deceptive (and sometimes insane) plays, sometimes simply because they don't know any better. Some are clueless guppies. Others are maniac gamblers, drunks or shortstackers.

Calling stations are profitable, but they aren't always easy to play against.

I think it took me a long time to learn not to bluff them.

Stations will pay off value bets at a higher frequency than other types of players, but should I push in on any flop that hits top pair? Should I fire two or three bullets with Ace-high when I think there's a chance it might be good? Should I cold call from late position with suited connectors preflop, or raise? What if there are more players in the hand?

I'll write more about stations soon. Here's a hand example of how I believe it should work when I'm up against a someone who I know will pay me off.

The best line to use against a calling station when you have a hand is bet, bet, bet. In retrospect, I should have raised more on the flop. All-in overbets for value work great.

5/10
SB: Villain ($1,304)
BB: Hero ($2,137)
Dealt to Hero [3c, Qs]
4 folds
Villain calls $5
Hero checks.
*** Flop *** [3h, Qc, 7d]
Villain bets $10
Hero raises $30
Villain calls $20
*** Turn *** [6s]
Villain bets $90
Hero raises all in to $2,097 and is all-In.
Villain calls all-in for $1,174
Uncalled bet of $832 returned to Hero
*** River *** [Jh]
Villain shows [8s, 9d] high card Queen.
Hero shows [3c, Qs] two pairs, Queens and Threes.
Hero wins $2,606 from the main pot with two pairs, Queens and Threes.