A long time ago in a galaxy far far away Admiral Ackbar uttered the classic "It's a trap!" line as the Rebel Alliance attacked a fully operational Death Star. As a kid I loved these movies and I have enjoyed watching them again with my own kids thirty years later. The joy of setting a trap is not just for those prone to the dark side. In poker one of the greatest feelings comes from executing a successful trap move. When I started playing this involved slow playing a set. These days I trap mainly using my old friends aces and kings. In early position at most stages of a sit n go or tournament I regularly limp with super premium hands. Often faced with a raise I then exploit my confused opponents by re-raising big style. In a mixed start to the year I have had one notable success on Pokerstars which developed out of this trapping with kings and aces strategy:
PokerStars Tournament #1099432314, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $13.78/$1.22 USD
45 players
Total Prize Pool: $620.10 USD
Tournament started 2015/01/04 17:56:20 ET
Tournament finished 2015/01/04 19:11:50 ET
1: Kartajana (United Kingdom), $192.26 (31.004%)
2: pipiki (Greece), $133.32 (21.499%)
3: Matheeeew (Slovenia), $102.31 (16.498%)
4: Leviathan74 (Greece), $77.51 (12.499%)
5: DrTee28 (United Kingdom), $55.80 (8.998%)
6: wondras3005 (Czech Republic), $37.20 (5.999%)
7: cockneyboy19 (United Kingdom), $21.70 (3.499%)
So if you do come across me at the tables limp, three betting you don't need to be a Jedi to work out what I have. Cheers and may the force be with you in 2015.
