A philosopher named George Santayana once said, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." If this were a political column, I'd launch into a discussion of the fact that George Bush was so busy avoiding personal danger and partying during the Vietnam War that he neglected to learn the lessons that could have saved us from the fiasco in Iraq. This is, however, a poker column, so I'll restrict myself to poker.
The first hand I want to examine took place at the final table of the Taj Mahal's
U.S. Poker Championship several years ago. It has been so long ago that my recall of the exact details may be a little cloudy, but I'm sure of the general situation. At a shorthanded table, Toto Leonidas raised from the button and Phil Hellmuth, in the big blind, just called with a pair of queens. He rightly figured that he could trap the aggressive Leonidas later for a large bet, while a reraise would cause him to fold without losing anything more. The flop was three small cards. Phil checked, Toto made a small bet, and Phil called. The turn was a king. Phil checked again, and now Toto made a big bet. Phil thought for a long time and folded! Tito showed 10 high. This is the poker equivalent of taking a sexy girl out to dinner and the movies every Friday for a month. Then, when she finally agrees to come home with you, you say, "Nope, I'm not in the mood tonight."
Now let's fast-forward to a recent
World Poker Tour final table at the Mirage. Kido Pham raises from late position. Gavin Smith, in the blind, just calls with two queens. (Déjà vu?) The flop comes with a king and two small cards. Gavin checks, Kido bets, and Gavin calls. The turn is another small card. Gavin checks, Kido makes a large bet, and Gavin folds! Kido shows ace high.
Both Phil and Gavin are great tournament players. As much as I hate to admit it, they both are better than I am, and their records prove it. I probably would never have thought of trapping with my queens. I would have reraised and quietly won a small, unremarkable pot. They each trapped their overly active opponent and put themselves in position to win a monster pot. That is what makes them superstars.
Then, they both made the same blunder in very similar circumstances. Sure, they could have been right that their opponent hit a king, and therefore folding was correct. In reality, the fact that they have played a strong hand weakly in order to trick an aggressive opponent means that there has to be a much better chance that the opponent is bluffing or betting some hand worse than queens than hitting a random king. Therefore, I think it is automatic to call. There was really no reason to think that Toto and Kido weren't falling into the trap.
What is the lesson you learn from this?
When you slow-play a strong hand, trying to trap your opponent, you are committed to calling later, when he may have fallen into your trap. 
Steve"Zee" Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful games player. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at many major tournaments and playing on FullTilt, as one of its pros. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his bar, Nice Guy Eddie's, on Houston and Avenue A in New York City.
