Trapping an opponent is one of the best ways to build and win a large pot; it is the act of setting up an opposing player to commit many chips to the pot in a situation where you are extremely confident that your hand is the overwhelming favourite; the trick is to convince them that you have a weak hand.
Slowplay a Big Hand
The technique behind a trap is to slowplay your hand, making it appear you have a mediocre hand, thus inviting your opponent to bet at the pot.
For traps to be successful, you need to wait until your opponent has a fairly strong hand, otherwise they will not be willing to risk lots of money. If you suspect they have a decent hand, you can induce an average-sized bet out of them on at least the flop and potentially the turn.
If it appears they have an extremely strong hand, but not quite as good as yours, you can slowplay practically the entire hand and sit back as they throw more and more chips your way.
Spotting a Trapping Opportunity
Great trapping opportunities are quite rare, so you need to be able to recognise the situation when it arises. Your aim is to drain your opponent for as many chips as possible.
Typically, you should aim to be heads-up against a single player before you attempt a trap, unless you hold the nuts and want to clean out everyone. For example, imagine you are heads-up against an opponent, you flop three-of-a-kind and they flop top pair.
As long as the board does not put out any obvious straight or flush draws, you will have no problem getting them to bet on every street.
Check-Raise to Create the Biggest Pots
Another technique for drawing out more chips is to play back at your opponent and check-raise them. This will make most players throw their hands away, even hands slightly better than top pair.
On the rare occasions you find yourself in a situation where you have a full house to another player’s high flush, simply slowplay the early stages of the hand and toss out a check-raise on the river. Be sure you do not raise too much or push all-in if the timing is not right; that will scare off even a very strong hand.
Key Points
• When you flop a big hand, slowplay it to encourage an opponent’s bet.
• Ensure your hand is strong enough to trap with.
• The better hand your opponent has, the longer you can trap them.
• Check-raise opponents with extremely strong hands when you hold the nuts, to extract the maximum amount of chips in the pot.
Chris
- Chris Laquinta is a magazine editor, content specialist and poker fanatic with 10+ years writing experience and over 1,500 published articles. Chris is a naitive of Southern California, where he spent his entire life learning gaming concepts and theories from relatives that had been former professional gamblers. He currently resides in Torrance, CA where he works as a professional content writer and part-time SNG professional.
