Cold call

Also: cold-call, flat call

Calling a raise (or a re-raise) without having put any money into the pot yet in that round. Cold-calling a 3-bet is rare; cold-calling an open from the button is common.

Example. Under the gun raises, the hijack calls — that is a cold call.

The term distinguishes a call from the blinds or from a player who has already limped or raised. Cold-calling with a strong hand can trap, but it caps your range and invites squeezes, so most players cold-call with hands that play well post-flop and are not strong enough to 3-bet for value.

Related terms

Full glossary

Three-bet (3-bet)

The third bet in a betting round — in pre-flop terms, a re-raise of the opening raise (the big blind counts as…

Squeeze

A re-raise made after an open and one or more callers, exploiting the fact that the callers have shown weaknes…

Capped range

A range that, based on previous actions, cannot contain the strongest possible hands. A player who just called…

Action

Any bet, raise, call, check or fold a player makes; also used for a game with lots of betting ("a great action…

All-in

Betting every chip you have in front of you. You can't be forced out of the hand after that, but you can only …

Barrel

To keep betting on successive streets. The flop bet is the first barrel, a turn bet the second, a river bet th…

Check

Passing the action to the next player without betting, which is only allowed if nobody has bet yet on that rou…

Check behind

To check when you are last to act, closing the betting round and taking a free card or a free showdown. It is …