Everyone knows that in poker, weak means strong and strong means weak.It 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 stay a step ahead of thoughtful opponents. One way of doing this is using aggression to trap your opponents. If your opponents are expecting a weak bet from a strong hand, trap them with a strong bet from a strong hand. Make strong mean strong!

An excellent example of this concept came up in a recent WPT episode. Thang “Kido” Pham raised the minimum with 3 3 and Carlos Mortensen reraised him the minimum with 8 5. The flop came K 8 3. Mortensen made a small bet and Pham raised an amount double the pot, to 600,000! Mortensen did not know what to make of this and ended up using the entire clock and having his hand declared dead. Because Carlos Mortensen is a savvy player, he read Pham’s bet as very weak when Pham’s hand was very strong. Pham’s gambit nearly elicited a call from Mortensen who read the bet as very weak.

Another example is a hand from the 2004 WSOP, one many of you remember well. Our own Matthew Hilger raised under the gun with AA. He made a raise that was much larger than the standard raise, so much that it elicited comments from other players. Al Krux, a good player himself, read this bet as weak and moved all in with two tens. The play worked flawlessly. Matthew explained the play by saying, “These are good players. If I limp in under the gun they will suspect a trap. If I make a small or standard raise they will be inclined to respect the raise since it is under the gun. However, if I make a larger bet they will think I am trying to make a move and steal a pot and may read me as weak.”

A final example is from a $25/$50 limit cash game I played online. Many of my opponents were loose but good players. I raised from the button with 3 3 hoping to steal the pot. Both blinds called. The flop cam 6 6 3! The small blind bet and the big blind called. Now, the only thing the big blind should call with here is a 6. I raised. The small blind called and the big blind called. The turn was an 8. Both blinds checked and I bet. The small blind folded and the big blind checkraised, as I had hoped. I three bet him here and he capped. On the river, my opponent asked me in the chat, “AA or KK?” and then bet the river. I raised him again and he called, winning me a big pot. In this hand, by raising the flop I led my opponent to believe that he had me trapped and was beating my big pair. Also, my raise on the flop made him believe I would bet the turn so he could checkraise me there. By playing aggressively I made extra bets that I would not have otherwise collected.

So when should you use aggression to trap your opponents? Surely not all opponents will read strong betting as weakness and vise versa. A few conditions must be met in order to effectively trap with aggression.

First, you have to know your opponents. Knowledgeable, aggressive players are your targets for this move. You want to try this play against opponents who can read bets correctly and will act on those reads by trying to bluff you or calling with marginal hands. Big bets might get a call from an astute player’s middle pair if he smells a rat whereas a small or medium bet will seem to him that you are trying to get called. Weak opponents will see a big bet as strength and fold immediately.

You also need to have the right table image. If you are viewed as a complete rock, all of your bets will be respected, big or small. Even aggressive players may not want to play pots with you. However, if you are viewed as a weak player this play will make you a lot of money. Your opponents will pounce on your ‘weak’ bets and trap themselves into calling or raising your bets. A weak player making a huge bet is a welcome sight to most great players.

Finally, you need the right hand to do this with. Making a huge bet with only one pair is dangerous, as you may be the one getting trapped. Normally a set, a straight, or at least two pair is ideal for this play to work. If you are trapping with aggression preflop, you will want to have AA or KK.