Texas Holdem Poker Tips: Trap Hands to Avoid

Texas Holdem, Hand Selection
November 27 2008

A lot of poker players get themselves into trouble and they likely don’t even know it. They do this by playing cards that in certain situations are far more likely to make the second-best hand than the best. This really hurts players because they think their hand is the best, and they go about betting like it is. Betting like this with a losing hand will cost you a lot of chips and do a number on your bankroll over time.

The hands we’re referring to are generally known as trap hands. They include hands like ace-10, ace-jack, king-queen, king-jack, king-10, queen-jack, and queen-10, just to name the most common and more obvious ones. These hands aren’t bad; it’s the way they’re being played that causes players to fall into the trap.

Here’s an example of a very common trap. We’ll use ace-jack. The player limps in, only to be raised by another player. Okay, now generally the right thing to do when raised by a player in late position here is to fold. But, instead he goes on and calls and sets the trap. What cards might the player who raised have? Well, if he has any of the following, that ace-jack is in big trouble:

Ace-ace, king-king, queen-queen, jack-jack, ace-king, ace-queen.

Since he raised, the chances of him having one of those hands is probably pretty good. Against any of those hands your ace-jack is not much good. What would be even worse is if you’re up against ace-king or ace-queen and another ace appeared on the flop. Think how many chips you could stand to lose in that hand? If you can avoid making these mistakes and keep yourself out of traps it will keep you from taking big chunks out of your bankroll.

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