Hero Call

When you call with a weak hand that can only win if your opponent is bluffing, that is known as hero calling in poker.

While it is always exciting to make a hero call with an ace-high and win a huge pot, you actually need to properly evaluate each situation before making this play, or you can end up bleeding your chips. It requires a careful evaluation and understanding of your opponent's range and game dynamics.

For example, if there was a flush draw and a straight draw on the flop and your opponent decided to bet all three streets and now fires a pot-sized bet on the river, he is representing a very narrow range assuming all of the draws missed. This is a situation where you can consider hero calling with a weak holding since he either has a very strong hand or a missed draw.

Also, it is worth considering blockers in your hand. If you have cards that reduce the likelihood of him having a made hand, this is also an additional piece of information that can be used when making the final decision.

All things considered, you should not be actively looking to make hero calls but rather be ready to pull the trigger when the situation is right. If you notice that your opponent’s line does not make much sense, and he suddenly started representing a hand on the river that he should not even have in his range based on how he played till this point, this might be a good time to make a hero call.

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