We have already talked about trapping players on the flop. I've seen my good friend John Bonetti, a world-class poker player at the age of 73, trap players before the flop beautifully! In 1996, in one memorable hand in the World Series of Poker championship event, John decided to try to trap the defending world champion, Dan Harrington, when there were still about 25 players left.

Dan opened the pot for $6,000 with 0-0, and John smooth-called the $6,000 bet with A-A. The flop was 6-9-10, and Dan bet out $25,000 into John. John again just smooth-called the $25,000 bet. I've got to tell you, I would have had to raise Dan's last $100,000 right there. I mean, I understand the smooth call before the flop, though I rarely do that myself, but no way would I have just called the $25,000 bet on the flop! I would have been too scared that Dan had a pocket pair and would hit it for a set, just because I smooth-called his $25,000 bet instead of moving him all-in right there and then. The next card was an A, for 6-9-10-A, and now Dan moved all-in for his last $100,000. John called Dan's $100,000 bet so quickly it gave me chills!

Then John looked up at me and winked. I was watching the action from about 20 feet away from the table and I had 50 percent of John that year (I had purchased 50 percent of his action). Having a piece of a player (sharing his wins and his losses) is often more brutal than being there at the table yourself, because you have no control over what's happening. Worse, first place was $1 million, which means I could have won $500,000 for my half! But I knew it was OK when John looked up and winked at me, and I wandered over to the table to see the upturned hands. Three aces for John and one pair of tens for Dan. John had had him drawing dead! No matter what the last card was, John would win the pot!

In this case, John had trapped Dan at just the right time. Sometimes traps trap the user, of course, but this one worked out perfectly. By the way, John went on to finish third that year, when the young and talented Huck Seed took first place. Having my two best friends at the time finish first and third was awfully cool. With John's second-place finish in the second to last event (for $140,000) and his third-place take in the main event ($680,000), we walked away with over $400,000 each! I always tell my poker friends when they visit my house, "This is the house that Bonetti bought!"

A good time to trap is when you are sitting in late position with A-A or K-K and you suspect that both blinds will fold if you make it two bets to go. By just calling the one bet, you allow the players behind you to call before the flop. By slow-playing with A-A or K-K and looking for action, you'll often get it. Sometimes, you need to be careful what you ask for! You may let the big blind play his 2-6 off-suit hand free by not raising before the flop, and then the flop may come 2-2-J and you are stuck in there losing a lot of bets because you trapped yourself. Still, sometimes I like to trap in this situation, and it usually works out pretty well for me (it's pretty tough to beat pocket aces or kings).

• Poker – Three-betting With Suited Connectors (0)
• Poker – Stealing From The Blind Stealers (0)
• Poker – Spencers Approach – Fire Up The Game (0)

Stealing from the blind stealers is a very advanced Hold'em play. I'm not sure that it's a winning play, but it definitely falls into the realm of advanced Hold'em play. Personally, I like reraising players whom I suspect of stealing the blinds with a hand like any two cards ten and above (called "20" in honor of its value in blackjack), such as 10-K or 10-Q. I also like reraising with any ace. This play is a lot more effective if you reraise in a better position than the original raiser. (If the raiser is two or three off the button, then being on the button—and acting behind the raiser— gives you an edge, because you act last.)

Reraising with 20 is a lot more solid than just reraising with 5-7 off suit, because you have a playable hand when you get called (and everyone will call one more bet when he's already made it two bets). Nonetheless, it is important to talk about stealing from the blind stealers with a really weak hand. I know of a couple of world-class limit Hold'em players who absolutely love to reraise the "live" (weak) player in the game with nothing at all in their hand, in order to steal the pot from him or outplay him later on in the hand. This reraise of the live player in the game also causes them to isolate themselves against the live player because the reraise usually drives the other players out of the pot. So the reraise (three bet) of the live player isolates that player and gives the better player a chance to outplay him later on in the hand. And when you give this kind of extra action to the live player, he also gives you extra action, and believe me, he's the fellow you want extra action from!

A lot of good things can happen when you reraise the blind stealers preflop. If the blind stealer misses his hand (and remember, it's hard to hit a hand in Hold'em—you miss many more flops than you hit), then he'll often have to surrender his hand on the flop. You can also get lucky and win a big pot when you hit your own hand restealing.

On the other side of the ledger, you can get yourself in a heap of trouble making a three-bet resteal with a weak hand. If the alleged thief has your hand beat, you've already put in three bets to little purpose when you were losing, and he still has both position (when you reraise out of the blinds) and has just as good a chance as you do to hit something on the flop. It just seems counterintuitive that you should be putting in three bets with 5-7 just because you suspect that someone is making a blind steal. Why not wait for a decent hand, one that is probably the best hand at the table preflop, before you three-bet it? This play may work best of all late in a Hold'em tournament when your opponent is more likely to throw his hand away on the flop, rather than risk going broke with a weak hand on the flop. (If I seem to be sending mixed signals, that's just poker; some advice is reliable, some is a crapshoot.)

• Poker – Calling With Suited Connectors In The Blinds (0)
• Poker – Trapping With Big Hands Before The Flop (0)
• Poker – Three-betting With Suited Connectors (0)

Some years ago at the Bicycle Club Casino in Los Angeles, there was a regular named Spencer Ouren (he was very well liked). Spencer was about my age and was on his way to becoming a poker legend before his untimely death in 1992. Spencer would sit down at the $80-$160-limit Hold'em table and raise every hand in the dark to the maximum before the flop (he wouldn't even look at his hole cards!) for one round. He did this every single time he sat down in a high-limit game.

Players began to expect this seemingly suicidal move, and some of them would decide to reraise Spencer with a weaker hand than they would usually play. Others, realizing what was happening, would then call three bets with weaker hands than they would normally play. Before long, all those in the game were caught up in playing hands that they didn't normally play. Spencer would thereby open up the game every time he sat down to play in it! Imagine what would happen. Often, the game might not have even been worth playing in before Spencer sat down, because everyone was playing tight (like a mouse). Then out of nowhere, Spencer sits down and all this craziness begins!

The players at the table would be playing hands that they didn't normally play for large amounts of money preflop. Invariably, some players would lose big pots with big pocket pairs like Q-Q, K-K, or A-A. Some of these players would then "go on tilt" and begin to play outside their normal, more successful style of play. Spencer was very good at shaking up a game by giving everyone a lot of action in the first round of play.

Usually, playing this way is a losing proposition, but because everyone knew what was coming (and then began to play out of character), if Spencer could win just one pot, he stood a good chance of losing only a little bit for the whole round. After all, these were pretty huge pots for the first round of deals he sat in! If he won just two pots, then he'd win (or break even) for the round. In any case, Spencer would then settle down after his "cap it in the dark" round and play supertight for a couple of hours afterward.

Invariably, the other players would continue to give Spencer too much action, and he was very successful because of this. His unique brand of firing up the table—thus messing with the other players' heads—by giving them a ton of action for one round is something worth looking into for even the greatest players in the world today. Sometimes, it would be a pretty expensive round for Spencer, but he would calmly sit back and take his $3,500 "start-up cost" loss, knowing that everyone was now perfectly set up to be crushed for a couple of hours.

Spencer was thus a real master at "advertising" that he played weak hands. Usually, advertising costs money, but every marketing department in the world will tell you that well-placed advertising eventually pays big dividends!

• Poker – Trapping With Big Hands Before The Flop (0)
• Poker – Three-betting With Suited Connectors (0)
• Poker – Stealing From The Blind Stealers (0)

Messing with the Other Players' Heads:
It's time now to talk about advertising—a way of messing with players' heads in order to confuse them and induce action later on: three-betting someone with a suited connected hand like 6-7 suited. Why suited connectors? A suited connector is the kind of hand that you might hit easily when you're out there making a play. It's said that timing is everything in life, so how do you time this crazy move?

Before I go any further, I want to stress that it is a play you shouldn't use too often, and, further, that it's important to use this play against the right people. I would never use it on a mouse, for two reasons. First, the mouse is set in his ways and won't give you any extra action no matter what you do. Second, why take 6-7 suited against a big pair (which is probably what he has), when it's so hard to win that pot? Early in the evening is the perfect time and situation to use this play, because then you may get extra action all night long! Why use it when only a few more hands are to be played, when you won't gain the benefit of extra action?

In general, three-betting an opponent with suited connectors is a losing play for that one hand, but you make the play occasionally anyway because it will bring you extra action for another hour or two. This extra action will ultimately bring you more money, but it may also cause you to lose some pots that you ordinarily would have won when someone who now thinks you might be in there with any piece of junk runs you down with a really weak hand. Still, reraising with this type of hand will mess up the other players' attempts to read you. In the future when you three-bet preflop, they will begin to wonder whether you have 6-7 suited.

If you win one of these pots without having to show down your hand, then I recommend folding your hand facedown and trying the same play again soon. As long as the play keeps working and you don't have to show your hand, continue to use it. But when you've been caught bluffing with one of these hands on the end, then flip it faceup and say, "I have nothing." Even better is when you do hit your hand and flip it up at the end of the hand and say, "I have a straight!" It's pretty funny to watch the players at the table study your hand and realize that you three-bet before the flop with ycur 8-9 suited! When you show down weak suited connectors that you three-bet with preflop, make sure that you're ready to play really tight for a while, since you will get extra action for a time afterward. Just make sure that you have a strong hand when they do call you down later.

Suppose that you're about one hour into a poker game that figures to last six hours or so. You have m 'ate position
and a jackal has just made it two bets in front of you. You now decide to make it three bets, and everyone folds except the jackal. The flop comes down 0-[V]-lVL an<^the jackal bets out into you. Of course, you now go ahead and raise the jackal on the flop, attempting to take the pot away from him right then and there. If the jackal folds, just throw your hand away facedown. But if he calls, make sure that you try to bluff him on fourth street and the river. If he calls you down, then say, "Nine high" and flip your hand faceup. Just the look of the other players at the table will be worth the money that you lost on this hand! Well, maybe not just the look, but the look combined with the advertising is welcome!

If the jackal folds his hand at some point, then fold your own hand facedown and try the same play again soon.

Suppose that the jackal calls preflop and the flop is [3"[3~ 0 (assume that you've three-bet him preflop with This
is a great flop for you because if you hit a five or a ten you make a straight, and if you hit an eight or a nine you've made a pair of eights or nines, which would be top pair on the board. Of course you need to play this hand aggressively (ram and jam), and whether you hit the winning hand or miss your hand, just flip it faceup on the end when the jackal calls you down. Obviously, it works out pretty well for you when you do win the pot while making your "suited-connectors three-bet advertising play." Just remember that advertising is usually pretty expensive, so make sure to look for ways to make it pay big dividends. And don't advertise too often.

• Poker – Trapping With Big Hands Before The Flop (0)
• Poker – Stealing From The Blind Stealers (0)
• Poker – Spencers Approach – Fire Up The Game (0)

Usually, I will call two bets in the big blind with any suited connectors, even the weak ones like 2-3. After all, in the big blind it will cost me only one more bet to call, since I have posted one bet already. In the small blind, too, I will defend with most suited connectors, but I'll usually draw the line at 4-5 suited because it will probably cost me IV2 bets more to call the two bets in the small blind. With 10-J or J-Q suited, I'm usually willing to call three bets in the blinds.

If I have 6-7 suited in the big blind and a mouse has made it two bets to go, then I will call if at least one other opponent calls, and I may call if I'm the only one left in the pot. Although I don't like to mess with a mouse's raise, the 6-7 suited in the big blind may bring a big reward for me if I hit the flop, and of course it will cost me only one more bet to see if I hit it. Moreover, a mouse is generally easy to read: he probably has a big pair or A-K high when he raises before the flop.

By risking one more bet to call before the flop, I may win a lot of bets from the mouse. And if I run into a troublesome flop like 10-6-4, then I can usually figure out fairly easily whether the mouse has me beaten or not. Again, in general I don't like to mess with a mouse's preflop raise, but being in the big blind (a discount) with suited connected cards is the time and place to do it.

If I have any suited connected hand in the big blind before the flop, then I'll call someone's raise (two-bet), period.

If I have J-Q or 10-J suited (they're both worth about the same before the flop) in the blinds, then I will in general call three bets (a reraise) before the flop. Of course there are exceptions: a mouse's three bets will force me to lay down my hand for sure! I have learned that it's very hard to beat Q-Q, K-K, A-A, or A-K with Q-J or 10-J suited!

Use your own discretion when you're deciding to call three bets with J-Q or 10-J suited in the small blind. If you have a bad feeling that the three-bettor has a big pair, then just throw your hand away before the flop. Remember, you're getting only a half-bet discount, not much compared with the 21/2 bets you would need to add, and you'll be playing the hand out of position for every betting round. The same thing applies to Q-J or 10-J suited in the big blind, although calling isn't ever a terrible play unless it's against someone who is a consistent mouse.

• Poker – Stealing From The Blind Stealers (0)
• Poker – Trapping With Big Hands Before The Flop (0)
• Poker – Three-betting With Suited Connectors (0)

The idea behind calling two bets with suited connectors is to try to win a big pot. So I'm looking for a lot of opponents when I consider calling two bets with this hand. It doesn't make sense to me to call two bets with 0-0 when ho one else has called before the flop. In other words, I'm looking for good pot odds for this type of drawing hand. An occasional big pot pays for a lot of failed attempts.

Suppose that someone raises before the flop in early position and now two other people call the raise in front of me. I'm on the button with 0-0. I simply fold this hand, because 4-5 is below the suited connector line that I like to maintain. In this same situation, if I have 7-8 suited, then I'll go ahead and call the raise, trying to get lucky on the flop or later.

Suppose that a mouse in early position makes it two bets to go and now two other players call the two bets in front of me. I'm on the button with 0-0. In this case, although two other players have already called the raise, I'll probably fold my hand because the original raiser is a mouse. (When a mouse raises in early position, I'm always looking for an excuse to fold as soon as possible!) Of course, if the original raiser isn't a mouse, I would call with my 0-0. My rule for playing suited connectors is this: if two other people have called two bets (a raise), then I'll call with my hand (assuming that it's above the 4-5 line).

• Poker – Trapping With Big Hands Before The Flop (0)
• Poker – Three-betting With Suited Connectors (0)
• Poker – Stealing From The Blind Stealers (0)