Most of us have some sort of default programming at work, and that default position is usually set to “call.”  Many poker players call unless they have a specific reason to fold or raise.  It’s a cautious stance, designed to save money that might be lost on otherwise unreasonable raises, and win money in a situation where folding -- which renounces any further interest in a pot -- cannot.

But any player with a default tendency to call runs afoul of one of poker’s prime strategic precepts: Be selective, but be aggressive.

The need to be selective is almost self-evident.  The player who gets involved in too many hands will win his share of pots and then some, but a poker player’s objective should center around winning money, not pots, and playing too many hands is a surefire way to go broke.

Aggressive play is important for two reasons.  It gets more money in the pot when you have the best hand and are favored to win, and aggressive play provides two paths to victory while passive play provides but one.

Betting or raising, hallmarks of aggressive play, can allow a player to capture the pot and win more money with good hands.  But aggressive play can also help a player win some pots simply because his opponent chose not to call his bet.  The passive player, the one who calls but seldom raises, can win only by showing down the best hand.  Aggressive play often means an opponent will fold a hand that might improve on a subsequent betting round and eventually capture the pot.  But passive play removes that tactical ploy from a player’s arsenal.

The “Be selective, but be aggressive” mantra suggests that unless there’s some overriding reason to call, a better course of action might be to either fold or to raise.

Folding takes a player out of situations where he is unsure about how his hand stacks up against an opponent, and is therefore in a position where he is likely to win the minimum if he has the best hand, but lose the maximum if he happens to be up against an opponent who has a powerful hand and can bet or raise without fear as a result.

Raising always has the advantage of putting your opponent to the test, and this is the question he’ll have to answer: Am I up against a better hand?  Anytime you can force your opponent to make a decision, there’s a chance he’ll choose incorrectly.  This allows a selective and aggressive player to win when his opponent folds a slightly better hand, as well as win when he holds the best one.

If you’re going to have a default mechanism built into your poker programming, instead of tending to call, let it be this: Raise more than you call, and fold more than you raise.

There are times when calling is the best course of action, and they’re fairly obvious:

Most other times, you are better off raising or folding.  In fact, most poker players call too often in situations when they should fold.  It’s the single biggest mistake you’ll see at the poker table.

Players frequently make other mistakes too.  They call instead of raising, they fold when they should raise, raise when folding is the best course of action, check when they ought to bet, and bet when checking is correct.

But day in and day out, at all levels and all limits, Mistake Number One is this: Players call when they should fold.

Poker is fun and most players are hobbyists looking for an enjoyable game, and whether it’s online or at a traditional

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But if your goal is to win money, that’s usually what you have to do.  When you play to win, you can’t count on having as much fun as your opponents, at least not until you walk out of the casino with their money and they leave with a pocket full of dashed hopes and little else.

Now that you know most players call more than they should and fold far too infrequently, you can take advantage of their tendencies.

When a player is prone to call too often, he’s not easy to bluff.  You can avoid the predicament of bluffing and being called by a weak hand that still might be better than yours by bluffing less than you would against strong players.  Instead of bluffing, bet your marginal hands for value whenever you believe your opponent will call with a weaker one.

In a tournament or a no-limit cash game you might not want to play as many marginal hands, but when you do make a big hand, you can nickel and dime your adversary into calling his money away -- particularly if you’re able to price him into the pot by betting just enough to seduce him into calling with a losing hand.  Once you reach the River, you can put him all-in for his remaining money, and because the pot has grown to such a large size, he’s very likely to call himself right out of the tournament.

In a limit game, you don’t have to be wary of betting the River if you bet the Turn and were not raised.  Unless the River card makes an obvious flush or straight for an opponent, your hand is probably still good.  Because holdem is such a front-loaded game, hands that are good on the Turn tend to be good on the River too.