What is Call?

Calling in poker means matching the current bet or raise rather than folding or raising. If the bet facing you is £50, to call you put exactly £50 into the pot and the action moves on. It is the middle path between folding (surrendering the hand) and raising (increasing the price), and is the correct choice when your hand is strong enough to continue but not strong enough — or not in the right spot — to raise. The central tool for deciding whether to call is pot odds: comparing the price of the call to the size of the pot you stand to win. Worked example: the pot holds £100 and an opponent bets £50, making the total pot £150. To call you must pay £50 to win that £150, so you are getting 3-to-1 pot odds, meaning the call costs you 25% of the eventual pot (50 / 200). If the chance of completing your hand and winning is greater than 25%, calling is profitable in the long run; if it is lower, calling loses money over time. Say you hold a flush draw with roughly nine outs — about a 19% chance to hit on the next card — then by that single-card measure this call is marginally unprofitable unless you can also win bets on later streets (implied odds). Why it matters: disciplined calling driven by pot odds, rather than curiosity or hope, separates winning players from "calling stations" who pay to see hands they should fold. Common mistake: calling because you are "priced in psychologically" or simply want to see the next card, while ignoring whether your equity beats the price offered. Chronic loose calling bleeds a stack steadily. Compare to: Check, Check-Raise, Bluff.