No Limit Poker: Trapping Aggression

No Limit Poker, Mental Factors and Tilt
September 6 2008

One of the most popular poker settings is the No Limit cash game. Online casinos are running more No Limit games these days than the traditional Limit tables. This type of game requires extreme patience. It takes only one hand to bust out if your opponent has as much money in front of him as you. You can’t make mistakes; you have to be sure you’ve got the best hand.

This will require that you put down a lot of hands that you would not normally put down in a Limit game. The better you get at folding good hands, the better you will fare in a No Limit environment. It doesn’t mean you fold second best every time, but if it looks like you’re beat you must find the discipline to wait for a better situation.

The best style of opponent to trap in a hand is a hyper-aggressive player. These players use an aggressive style to bully the table by making large bets and taking big risks. By playing a super-tight style against them, you’ll be at a big advantage every time you’re in a hand with them. Let them bet at you as much as they want; they take pride in taking multiple stabs at a pot with nothing, and then raise them on the river. You usually won’t get the big all-in trap to work, but this type of player will bluff off large amounts of chips to you if you play it right.

Slow-playing a monster hand is a trap. When you flop the nut hand you should check it down to the river, if your opponent has position on you. Checking on the river is very tempting for late position players, and you’ll often get some type of bet thrown at you.

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