How to Trap Your Opponent in Poker

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Setting up a poker trap and extracting all the money from your opponents is what sets a savvy poker player apart from a rookie. Professional or veteran poker players often set traps for their opponents because it is a very rewarding and profitable poker strategy – one that translates into a lot of money. However, while setting a trap like this, you have to put in a lot of careful planning and thought, because, after all, you don’t want any of your opponents to guess your intentions.

What is a poker trap?

Basically, it is a hand in poker intended to surprise the victim whom you are going to trap. Poker traps are easier to set in the slower versions of the game. This is because slow play allows your opponents to get lured into committing several chips at a time when you are holding a monster card in your hands.

A typical poker trap usually refers to the concealed set or hidden set which was turned less characteristically or flopped. The trick here is to make your opponent play a hand nonchalantly, without he realizing anything much. Then you have to make him put a number of chips on the table, all the while acting surreptitiously. And then you have to trap your opponent in a way that he can’t escape from his predicament.

What is a hidden set?

You have to pair the board. Now, if any player holding a third card belonging to the same rank trips, it won’t really lead to any surprise — all the players are well aware of these kinds of risks. Or let us suppose, there are re-raises prior to the flop or a rather big raise pre flop. The result of the flop is AK4. In a situation like this, it is common knowledge that someone among the players is holding a set perhaps. There is no surprise in this either.

A hidden set, however, is very subtle, more subtle than what I have described so far. It often comes with a low pair and not a single player will be expecting it. Basically, these traps or hidden sets are very difficult to catch.

What are the things to consider while laying traps for your opponents?

While laying poker traps for your opponents, you first need to look into your opponent’s tendencies and playing style. When your opponent is aggressive and relentless, one of the best ways of laying a poker trap is through checking. The idea is to allow your opponent to indulge in all the heavy lifting and he should still bet in to you. This way you will be able to gain the commitment and trust from your aggressor. When that job is done, your duty is to astonish him with a raise or bet.

The second part of laying a trap is to find out how you measure up in the eyes of your full tilt opponent. Gain insight into how your opponent views you and what he thinks about you or your playing style. Is your call regarded as a signal for danger by your opponents or are you viewed as some kind of a call station whose tendency is to over call if the game draws?

If you feel your call is regarded by your opponent as a kind of show of strength, you are perhaps doing a good job by laying a trap for this opponent. In this case, you should trap him by raising his first bet.

It doesn’t really matter which procedure works better at trapping your opponent. The bottomline is to extract the maximum amount of money from your opponents and place them at the center of the table in order to build a big pot.

Which hands are ideal for trapping in poker?

You cannot trap with every single hand in full tilt poker – this is something you have got to understand. Secondly, what may seem like a great hand to trap with in one condition might turn out to be the worst hand to trap with in another. So there really isn’t any blanket rule you could follow while setting traps and you have to improvise a lot.

Under normal circumstances, traps are usually set by players when they have their best hands and when there is a very small chance of being outdrawn. Sometimes, experienced players decide to trap an opponent when the latter holds a free card or a cheap card. This makes the opponent a second best hand.

Let me explain with the help of an example. Suppose you are holding a bottom set pair and your opponent has a top pair. Another such situation that merits description is when the trap setter flops straight through a backdoor flush draw against the opponent’s over pair.
Thus as you can well understand, in order to profit from trapping, you have to set the trap appropriately. You have to know which are the best ways of laying traps for your opponent; you also have to know ‘when’ you should place the trap, for timing is another key here for success.

How to set traps for your opponent?

Let me give you an example of how to trap your opponent in a slow play. I will advice you to use a flush draw to overbet the pot. Then you should check while holding the flush. If your opponent recognizes your trap, he will probably check fold to you at the river stage. But there’s a high chance that he will get trapped fully as a result of thinking you were holding top pair.

Conclusion

Poker traps can be used usually only on good, strong, and skillful players. That’s because good players are the ones that usually pay as much attention to what your situation is as they do to their own hands. Weak players, on the other hand, are too busy minding their own cards, which makes them oblivious to any signal you’re throwing at them, whether genuine or not.

Therefore, I’ll leave you with “pick your opponents wisely, and have fun trapping them!”