What is a cold call in poker?
A cold call in poker is calling a raise when you have not yet put any chips in the pot. The standard case is preflop: someone opens, the action reaches you, and you call the open instead of re-raising or folding. “Cold” means you came in from nothing. You did not open, you did not limp, and you did not post a blind, so the call costs the full raise.
Can the blinds cold call?
Sources split on this. Gipsyteam, Hand2Note and Pokercoaching say a call from the small or big blind is not a cold call, because those players already have a forced bet in the pot; most players call it defending the blind. Poker Skill’s glossary counts it, since a blind is not a voluntary bet. The difference matters for a HUD number, so this page gives the solver’s cold call rate both ways.
The price is the reason the distinction exists. Against a 2.5 big blind open, with nobody else in yet:
| Who calls | Pays | Equity needed |
|---|---|---|
| A seat outside the blinds | 2.5bb | 38.5% |
| Small blind | 2bb | 33.3% |
| Big blind | 1.5bb | 27.3% |
How often should you cold call?
Rarely. We ran 400,000 simulated deals through the solver’s own preflop strategy for all six seats, using the same exported 6-max ranges at 100 big blinds that our charts use, card removal included. Counting each seat at its first decision, the way a tracker does, the solver ranges PlusEV drills cold call 3.5% of the times a seat outside the blinds faces a raise. With the blinds included the figure is 8.4%, almost all of it from the big blind.
| Seat | Cold calls a single raise | Cold calls a 3-bet |
|---|---|---|
| Hijack | 1.0% | never faced |
| Cutoff | 1.9% | 0% |
| Button | 5.7% | 0.6% |
| Small blind | 2.5% | 0% |
| Big blind | 25.0% | 0.1% |
The more players still to act, the less the solver calls. The hijack, with four players behind, calls 1.1% of hands against an under-the-gun open and 3-bets 7.4%, so only 13% of the hands it plays are calls. The button has only the blinds behind and is guaranteed position after the flop: it calls 5.2% to 6.3% depending on the opener, and 31% to 44% of the hands it plays are calls.
| Seat facing an open | Opener | 3-bet | Call | Fold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hijack | Under the gun | 7.4% | 1.1% | 91.5% |
| Cutoff | Under the gun | 7.4% | 2.8% | 89.7% |
| Cutoff | Hijack | 9.2% | 1.2% | 89.5% |
| Button | Under the gun | 7.3% | 5.7% | 87.0% |
| Button | Hijack | 9.0% | 6.3% | 84.7% |
| Button | Cutoff | 11.6% | 5.2% | 83.2% |
Which hands should you cold call?
Pairs and suited hands, mostly, plus some strong offsuit hands. On the button against an under-the-gun open, 36% of the solver’s cold calls are pairs, 49% suited hands and 15% offsuit. Red in the grid is a 3-bet, green a call:
| AA | AKs | AQs | AJs | ATs | A9s | A8s | A7s | A6s | A5s | A4s | A3s | A2s |
| AKo | KK | KQs | KJs | KTs | K9s | K8s | K7s | K6s | K5s | K4s | K3s | K2s |
| AQo | KQo | QJs | QTs | Q9s | Q8s | Q7s | Q6s | Q5s | Q4s | Q3s | Q2s | |
| AJo | KJo | QJo | JJ | JTs | J9s | J8s | J7s | J6s | J5s | J4s | J3s | J2s |
| ATo | KTo | QTo | JTo | TT | T9s | T8s | T7s | T6s | T5s | T4s | T3s | T2s |
| A9o | K9o | Q9o | J9o | T9o | 99 | 98s | 97s | 96s | 95s | 94s | 93s | 92s |
| A8o | K8o | Q8o | J8o | T8o | 98o | 88 | 87s | 86s | 85s | 84s | 83s | 82s |
| A7o | K7o | Q7o | J7o | T7o | 97o | 87o | 77 | 76s | 75s | 74s | 73s | 72s |
| A6o | K6o | Q6o | J6o | T6o | 96o | 86o | 76o | 66 | 65s | 64s | 63s | 62s |
| A5o | K5o | Q5o | J5o | T5o | 95o | 85o | 75o | 65o | 55 | 54s | 53s | 52s |
| A4o | K4o | Q4o | J4o | T4o | 94o | 84o | 74o | 64o | 54o | 44 | 43s | 42s |
| A3o | K3o | Q3o | J3o | T3o | 93o | 83o | 73o | 63o | 53o | 43o | 33 | 32s |
| A2o | K2o | Q2o | J2o | T2o | 92o | 82o | 72o | 62o | 52o | 42o | 32o | 22 |
Sevens call 60% of the time, king-queen suited 87%, jack-ten suited 70% and five-four suited 66%. Aces, kings and ace-king suited 3-bet every time, but queens call 19% of the time, jacks 45% and ace-king offsuit 17%, so the calling range is never only medium hands.
The offsuit hands are where the solver parts with common advice. Pokercoaching calls king-queen, king-jack and queen-ten offsuit “among the worst cold calls in poker” and warns off ace-jack offsuit. From the button, the solver calls ace-queen offsuit 78% of the time against under the gun, king-queen offsuit 48% against the hijack and ace-jack offsuit 48% against the cutoff. The advice holds from earlier seats: the cutoff folds ace-jack offsuit every time against an under-the-gun open, and king-jack offsuit folds every time against that open from the hijack, cutoff and button.
Why do solvers cold call so little?
Because a call leaves players behind who can squeeze. In the simulation, when the button cold calls a single open, someone behind re-raises at least 13.6% of the time, and the cold caller has to give up a hand it paid 2.5 big blinds to play or call again. From the hijack it is at least 18.2%, because more players are left to act. When nobody squeezes, the button sees a heads-up flop 64.9% of the time.
The rest is standard theory rather than our data. A 3-bet can win the pot at once and takes the initiative into the flop. A call does neither, and it caps your range: your strongest hands would have re-raised, so an opponent can play against a range with few monsters in it. That is why solvers mix some queens, jacks and ace-king into the call, and why the 3-bet carries most of the hands that continue.
Should you cold call a 3-bet?
Almost never. When one player opens and another 3-bets, the solver cold calls with 0.7% of hands at most, from the button and the big blind, and with nothing from the cutoff or small blind. Only two hands are calls more often than not: queens on the button over an under-the-gun open and a cutoff 3-bet, and ace-queen suited in the big blind over a cutoff open and a small-blind 3-bet. Everything else is a cold 4-bet or a fold, and the ranges are on our cold 4-bet charts.
What if someone has already called the open?
Calling behind a caller, an overcall, gets a better price because the pot is bigger, but the solver still does it rarely. Facing an open and one call, the button overcalls 4.5% to 5.7% of hands, about what it calls against a lone open. The small blind overcalls 5.6% to 11.4%, against at most 3.3% facing a lone open. The cutoff never overcalls an under-the-gun open and a hijack call: it squeezes 6.8% and folds the rest.
Small pairs make up much of these overcalls, for the set-mining price covered in our pocket pairs guide.
Does this change in live games and tournaments?
Yes, in the direction of more calling where players behind rarely re-raise. This part is general theory rather than our data. In live low-stakes games, squeezes are rarer and pots go multiway, so pairs and suited connectors gain value as cold calls. Deeper stacks help the same hands, since a set or a flush gets paid more. In tournaments with shorter stacks the opposite holds: the implied odds shrink, and more hands become 3-bet or fold.
How should you use cold calling?
Treat a cold call as the exception, not the default for a hand too good to fold. Outside the blinds, the solver ranges PlusEV drills cold call 3.5% of the times they face a raise, and about nine in ten of their continuing hands from the hijack are 3-bets.
Call most from the button, mostly with pairs and suited hands, and almost never call a 3-bet cold. The PlusEV preflop trainer drills these spots hand by hand, so the call, the 3-bet and the fold each come from the chart rather than from a feeling.
Quick answers
What is a cold call in poker?
Calling a raise when you have not yet put any chips in the pot. The usual example is folding round to you after someone opens, and calling the open instead of re-raising or folding.
What is an example of a cold call?
Under the gun opens to 2.5 big blinds, the hijack and cutoff fold, and you call 2.5 big blinds on the button with pocket sevens. You had nothing in the pot, so that call is a cold call.
Is calling from the big blind a cold call?
Usually not. Most guides call it defending, because the big blind already has a forced bet in the pot and pays less to see the flop. Some glossaries count it anyway, so check how your tracker defines the stat.
What is the difference between a cold call and a flat call?
A flat call is any call where a raise was possible. A cold call is the narrower case: calling a raise with no chips of your own in the pot yet.
What does cold mean in poker?
That you had put nothing in the pot before this action. A cold call calls a raise from nothing, and a cold 4-bet re-raises a 3-bet from a player who had not yet entered the pot.
Should you cold call a 3-bet?
Almost never. In the 6-max solver ranges PlusEV drills, cold-calling an open and a 3-bet happens with under 1% of hands from every seat; the rest is a cold 4-bet or a fold.
What is a good cold call percentage?
Low. The solver ranges cold call 3.5% of the times a seat outside the blinds faces a raise, and none of those seats above 5.7%. A player cold calling 10% or more calls several times as often as the solver.