There is constant debate on many of the best online poker sites about whether or not you should try to trap your opponents. For most players, they look at a good hand and think that they can extract more chips from their opponent by trying to lure them in and trapping them in hopes of collecting a huge pot. While trapping can be effective in certain situations, most players who do not have extensive poker experience will try and trap more often than they should and often trap themselves instead. There are a number of different things that you can do to help prevent yourself from getting in the tragic position where the hunter suddenly becomes the hunted.
The first thing that you have to understand when you are trapping is that you cannot trap with a mediocre hand. Unless you are flopping one of the best hands possible for the current hand, “trapping” your opponent will not really be doing anything but getting you into trouble. For example, flopping top pair with a mediocre kicker is not a hand that you can even think about trapping with but players often try to trap with such a marginal hand. So many hands can beat top pair that giving your opponent more cards is just asking to give them your chips.
Your best bet is to play the Pokerstars cards that you actually have in your hand if your hand is in any way decent. Hands like top pair, top two, and other hands of similar quality, while good, do not warrant an attempt to trap unless the rest of the board is really weak or you know your opponent is really weak. Another important bit of details to keep in mind in considering trapping your opposition is where you are seated in relation to the button. In addition, we want to be mindful of the number of players we are playing against. The more people who are sitting across from you in the hand, the less likely that trapping is going to be effective and the more likely trying to trap will get you into costly trouble.
Knowing when to trap is equally as important as knowing when not to trap. Flopping the nuts is obviously a point when you should trap. If you flop something like the nut flush or an almost nut flush, nut straight, full house, quads, or even something like top trips, it is in your best interest to slow down and let the deck try to give your opponent something to chew in to keep them in the hand. Unless you are in a position where it is possible where your nut hands could be beaten by something better like a draw heavy board such as instances when you have three of a kind but there is the possibility that your opponent is four cards to a flush.
Trapping in poker can be a rewarding skill when used effectively and equally self destructive when used incorrectly. Being able to trap effective and avoiding the jaws of your own trap will result in more chips in your stack and a more respectable table image among your fellow players. By saving trapping for situations where it is almost impossible for your hand to be caught, your play results will improve.