The Smooth-Call Tactic

Several years ago, in the World Series of Poker championship event, I was watching with great interest my friend John Bonetti play a monster pot against 1995 WSOP Champion Dan Harrington. It was deep into day three (of a total of four), with 26 players left, and $1 million in first-place prize money and poker history hanging in the balance. Dan raised it to $16,000 to go with K-10, and Bonetti smooth-called (merely called the bet) with his A-A.

After a flop of 10-9-6, Harrington bet $35,000 and Bonetti smooth-called again. When an ace came down on the turn (10-9-6-A), Harrington moved all in for $120,000, and Bonetti called so quickly that it astonished me. Bono looked over and winked at me as he flipped over his three aces. Game, set, match; the last card was irrelevant, as Bonetti and his three aces had Harrington drawing dead.

Dan Harrington

Why did Bono smooth-call in the first place? He was attempting to lure Dan into putting a lot of money into the pot when Bono was a huge favorite. Put simply, Bono was setting a trap. Setting a trap or slow-playing a big pair like A-A, K-K, or Q-Q is a common tactic in poker these days. Sometimes the trap can backfire, and sometimes it works perfectly.

In Bono's case, if he had reraised before the flop with his A-A, Dan almost certainly would have folded his K-10 right then and there, and Bonetti would have won only the $16,000 raise that Dan had made. Bono's trap, executed with guts, heart, and panache, worked like a charm.

By the way, it is not easy to smooth-call with a big hand like that, especially on the flop. Too many times, we poker players lose a pot because we don't bet when conventional wisdom says we should. The common phrase "protect your hand" comes to mind.

So, when should we smooth-call and set traps in no-limit hold'em? There is no magical formula for this, but generally speaking, a good time to trap is when someone raises a decent amount in front of you and no one else has called yet. A decent amount is important because it drives other players out of the pot, and having no one else call the raise in front of you is important because it is very dangerous to let too many players into the pot preflop (it is hard to fold aces after, say, a 9-8-7 flop in which an opponent may have you beat).

Another good time to trap is when you're in late position and no one else has called yet. In this case, a raise represents strength and may cause everyone else to fold, whereas a call represents weakness and may result in other calls or even a raise from someone trying to steal the pot. When you think the time is right, give the smooth-call tactic a try. Good luck!

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