Trapping opponents with aggression

Everyone knows that in poker, weak means strong, and strong means weak. This is one of the central axioms of Mike Caro's classic book, Caro's Book of Poker Tells. However, if everyone at your table knows this, then you will need to change your strategy to be one step ahead. One way is to use aggression to lure your opponents into a trap. If your opponent expects a small (weak) bet from a strong hand, trap him with a strong bet from a strong hand.

The recent WPT draw is a good example. Thang "Kido" Pham raised from 3-3 and Carlos Mortensen reraised from 8-5. The flop is K-8-3. Mortensen made a small bet and Pham raised to double the pot to 600,000.

Another example is the 2004 WSOP. Matthew Hilger, sitting at gunpoint, raises with AA. He raised, which was much larger than the usual raise. Al Krux assumed that this bet was protecting a weak hand and went all-in with 10-10. Matthew then explained his game: They are good players, and if I limp at gunpoint they will be suspicious of me.
If I make a small or standard raise, they tend to respect the raise as it is at gunpoint. However, if I bet big, they will think that I am trying to steal the pot with a weak hand.

A final example is ring game, fixed limit, 25$ / 30$. Many of the players are loose but good. A player raises on the 3-3 button to steal the pot. Both blinds call. The flop is 6-6-3. A small blind bets, a large blind calls (probably 6). On the button, the player makes a raise, which is called by the blinds. Thorn - 8. Both blinds checked. The player on the button is bet. Small blind - pass, large - raise (check-raise). On the button - raise, eventually up to capo. On the river, the big blind asks in the chat: AA or KK? Then he makes a bet. On the button - raise, blind - call. In this game, by raising preflop, the button player caused the big blind to believe he had a big pair. In addition, the flop raise convinced him that there would be a bet on the turn where he could successfully check-raise.

When should you use aggression to lure your opponents into traps? Of course, not all players will read strong bets as a weak hand. Several conditions need to be met in order to use this trick.

First and foremost, you must know your opponents well. Good, aggressive players will treat your big bets like a player with a weak hand, but bad, weak opponents will see them as a strong hand.

Image at the table. If you are a player who always plays correctly, then your raises, no matter small or strong, will be viewed with caution. If you have shown that you are not a very good player, you will be tested by getting involved in your tricks.

Trapping with aggression is a game that will only work under the right circumstances. However, when it works, it does very well. Just make sure your opponents are good players and your hand is very strong. It also helps if you are thought of as a weak player.

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