The above example illustrates the danger in quickly "cold-calling," -- calling a bet and a raise -- without careful consideration of your hand, position and the player who made the raise.  Normally I wouldn�t make a foolish move like this unless my KQ was suited.  Suffering rough beats, wanting to win a pot before leaving: These are no excuses for poor play.  But many low-stakes players will use any justification for calling two bets.

"I was going to call anyway."

"I haven�t played a hand for 20 minutes."

"I�ve got to go soon, and really want to play this hand."

Even otherwise solid players end up having a losing session, or suffering a bigger loss than they should have,

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Deceptive hands.  Many times a hand will look much better than it is.  These are big, unsuited cards such as my KQ.  Other dangerous hands include AT offsuit, QJ, KJ and KT.  Some players will even cold-call with hands like Q8 suited, having visions of the flush in their mind and assuming Queens will surely be good if a Queen flops.  While holdem is indeed a game of big cards, it�s much more preferable to have the big cards be suited, because if you flop a four-flush, you can often win a sizeable pot if you hit your hand.  However, you are only going to hit a flush by the river about 6% of the time when you hold two suited cards, so you can�t be playing any two suited cards and have to really tighten up when you face two bets.  Hands like Q8 aren�t going to cut it.

To illustrate just what a poor decision cold-calling can be, let�s look at my KQ offsuit.  It may look like a nice hand, as you can hit a lot of friendly flops with this hand.  But when you are facing a raise, you have to give the raiser respect for a hand (unless it is a "straddle," and he raised blindly under-the-gun).  A pre-flop raise means a big pair, or that the raiser holds two big cards (unless you know him or her to be a maniac).  Hands like KQ, KJ and AT offsuit are too easily dominated.  If heads-up with KQ offsuit against A9 offsuit, KQ may seem better, but the A9 has a 58% to 42% edge over the KQ.  If unsuited, you can only play AK and AQ (excluding pairs, which will be covered in a minute) because you can too easily be dominated.

Suited is better.  Suited cards give you the advantage of possibly hitting a sizeable pot, especially in a very loose game, because if you hit your flush, the initial raiser may be unable to get away from their pocket pair, or big-slick, especially if they hit top pair.  Still, you must proceed with caution.

A common mistake is calling middle suited connectors for two bets.  Doyle Brunson writes in Super System about how much he loves hands like 67 suited because if they hit, they can win a huge pot.  Brunson is right, but he is speaking of no-limit holdem.  In limit holdem, middle suited connectors are quite playable, especially from middle and late position, for one bet.  But to call two bets, you can�t be calling with hands like 67 suited.  They look pretty, but more often than not you�ll just be throwing money away.  Call only with large suited connectors and suited cards, re-raising with AK (suited or not) and calling with AQ, AJ, KQ and QJ suited in early and middle position or A8 suited or better.  If you are on the button or one off the button and don�t have to worry about another re-raise, you can cold-call with JT suited or an Ace and suited card as well if the game is loose (meaning you expect there to be at least 5 players seeing the flop despite the raise).  In a very loose game, you can also add QT suited to the mix.  Note, though, the danger of an Ace and a poor kicker, and don�t be afraid to toss your hand if you miss the flush or flush draw but an Ace flops and there is aggression: The many callers and raise is a good sign you are outkicked.  You also aren�t missing much if you toss an Ace and a small kicker in late position (and indeed you must do so in early position) � cold-calling with hands like A5 suited is debatable, but I do so in a crowded pot in late position because the potential payoff is huge.

Love them pairs.  Ed Miller, David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth, in Small Stakes Holdem: Winning Big With Expert Play, are liberal in advocating

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Position & Pot Size.  Two more factors you need to consider before making a cold call: the size of the pot and your position.  You can be slightly more liberal in late position with a cold call with suited cards, as the threat of another raise is reduced and you�ll know how the initial raiser acted.  Additionally, if the game is very loose and aggressive, you can be more liberal in making a cold call with a hand like AT or KJ suited as you can get heavy action should you hit the flush.  When out of position or in tighter games, though, you really have to tighten up and only play the cr�me de la cr�me of starting hands -- nines or better, AQ-AJ suited, or AK and AQ offsuit.

A post-bet raise.  If it has been raised after you have entered the pot, you can be fairly liberal in calling for one more bet, unless the raise came from a very tight player.  This is NOT a cold call, because the term refers to calling two bets without being in the pot.  In a recent conversation with my colleague Ashely Adams about the dilemma of being raised after you entered the pot, he pointed out the importance of position and how likely it is to be raised again.  For instance, if you held 6s 7s in early position, limped, and it was raised: If it looks like it will be raised again, you need to get away from the hand.  Another danger is being too quick to call two more bets after you have limped.  Again, don�t get married to middle suited connectors, or hands like KQ and QJ.  You limped, and two more players popped it up.  Don�t feel the need to protect "your money," as the raise and re-raise mean you are behind.

Post-flop decisions.  If you hit top pair on the flop, or two pair with a pair on the board, you want to be aggressive, but do slow down and carefully assess your situation and again be tight with cold-calling.  Take QJ off-suit.  You called from the button, and five players see the flop, which comes Q77.  A player in early position bets, and it is raised by the time the action gets to you.  This is a dangerous situation, and you need to lean towards folding as you are likely out-kicked or have run into the 7 (especially if the blinds saw the flop, as they could hold anything).  If you held AQ you would pop it up again (you have position on

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Tight or loose?  While most small-stakes games are loose, you will run into the occasional tight game.  Additionally, you can find tight-aggressive players who play solid poker at low stakes.  You can give yourself some leeway in a very loose game, but in tight games be extremely cautious with cold-calling, as a raise means your opponent has a hand.  It can also be tempting to play hands like AT and QJ offsuit when the player under-the-gun straddles, but you don�t want to cold-call from early position with hands like that even against a player who straddles, because you don�t know how the players yet to act will bet.

Don�t forget: you can raise, too.  On the flip-side of the problem with cold-calling when you should fold is the problem of cold-calling when you should raise.  This is especially easy to do when you suffer bad beats, or have a maniac who loves to raise with any hand.  You remember the suck-out on the river, so don�t want to cost yourself money.  While you can�t be calling with hands like QJ offsuit, you also can�t just be limping with QQ or JJ just because you assume the worst will happen.  Make a loose-aggressive player pay, and re-raise.  This helps protect your hand by putting even more pressure on those yet to act, and also gives your hand better value if you are ahead.  With Aces through 10s and Big Slick, go ahead and be aggressive.  These hands don�t come around that often, so protect them and make that loose-aggressive player pay.  Don�t remember the time you ran into bullets with your cowboys -- each hand is different, and you can�t have a defeatist attitude.  Not being aggressive enough can cost you, especially in a low-stakes limit game.  Play your big hands for what they are worth!

Err on the side of caution.  If you find yourself agonizing over whether to call or fold, be more apt to fold.  You need to be very careful with cold-calling, and doing it too often will be a clear disaster for your bankroll.  If you fold and find you would have gotten lucky, or were up against someone who just felt like raising for fun, keep your cool.  You�ll thank yourself when Big Slick comes and you flop top pair against your opponent who cold-called you with KJ.

It may not seem like a big deal when you cold call.  After all, what�s one more bet, right?  Well, that one more bet can hurt you in two ways.  One, if you cold-call too often, all those extra bets will add up and be disastrous for your bankroll.  It�s like paying a surcharge on an ATM when you could drive 3 extra minutes to go to your bank�s ATM with no surcharge.  One withdrawal isn�t a big deal, but if you visit the ATM and pay a surcharge three or four times a week, by the end of the year you�re going to have paid hundreds in unnecessary fees.  Secondly, by cold-calling, you can run into serious trouble as I did with my KQ by being dominated, costing yourself on the flop, turn and river.