One reason for poker’s universal popularity is because the mental processes used in poker resemble the games we humans play in real life. Many of these games we humans play are highly competitive and adversarial in nature. The analysis of all adversarial games starts with the objectives, and next polarizes into offense and defense. Although most offense consists of some initial PUSH or positive action, there are certain types of offenses which are PLANNED RESPONSES based on the opponent’s expected actions, that is, the opponent is being PULLED or drawn or sucked into a trap or ambush or other disadvantage.

Even in American football, which is mostly pure push, there are some “pull” type offenses, for example, the “draw play”, which is based on drawing the defense out of position and then running right up the middle. Alexander the Great’s early armies employed the pincer phalanx, a weak front battle line which retreated, allowing massed troops to converge from both sides. In contract bridge, most modern experts normally use pushy barrage tactics much more frequently than pull tactics. But, there are a number of contract bridge situations where it is clearly correct to sit back and trap. Although in real life most people use a simple straightforward approach to life’s many games, there are many real life situations where we players adopt a “draw play” type of strategy, and try to get our “opponents” to commit themselves to the first move (to their disadvantage). Note that here we are talking about everything from politics to sex, including warfare, business and many other personal relations.

But poker, especially no limit poker, almost requires using these pull tactics in certain situations - at least some percentage of the time. In fact, trapping is usually the “preferred” alternative when you have a very good hand. It certainly is a good idea to vary your style, and you should not drive every time you have a good hand. But you should be aware that whenever you do adopt a pull or trapping strategy, you not only (willingly in this case) lose the five percent vig (most of us think the initiative is worth a lot more, that is, to be in position to win by “default” or bluff) but you run the risk of getting it checked around; and, a long shot might even beat you! But the payoff when the “draw play” works well is usually considerably more than if you had routinely driven the hand. And you often gain a psychological plus which is good for your overall strong image. Generally speaking, as the stakes increase, so does the importance of trapping. Every good pot limit or no limit player must understand the art of drawing in the bulls, especially when the big money is sitting in BACK of you.

But how valuable is the draw play in limit play? A quick look at the amount of expected monies in any given pot seems to demonstrate that there is some (but not a lot of) advantage in trapping over driving. BUT NOTE WELL THAT THE FOLLOWING ONLY APPLIES WHEN YOU HAVE A VERY GOOD HAND AND DO NOT RATE TO BE BEATEN.

First the typical driving scenario. You are dealt a winning hand on the flop. It is your turn to bet, so you bet. You get several callers (this is obviously somewhat optimistic). With the fourth card turn you still have the same winning hand, so you bet again (now double size bet). Probably one or more players fold, and one or more callers see the last card. You then bet the last card and are likely to get one, zero or two callers. With this uncontested driving scenario you rate to win around TEN to FIFTEEN minimum units (ie. in a five-ten dollar game you would be winning around sixty dollars assuming you get the callers described above). The hands where everyone or most players fold are somewhat averaged out by hands with some raising action (still assuming that you always win).

There are several likely trapping scenarios. Let us assume the same five or six players see the flop (yes, this is one reason why we like Omaha). You are dealt the same winning hand, but this time you check. Variation one is the bad news. Everyone checks. And everyone gets to see the fourth card free. The more good cards that you have, the more frequently it rates to get checked around. However, most of these checked around times, driving would also produce a low yield.

So, given that it has been checked around, now let us say that the fourth card is an ugly brick, and no one rates to get inspired. So you bet the fourth and last cards (both two unit bets) and rate to get one or two callers. The typical win is about TEN units.

If the fourth card looks good, then you should continue to check! Since all the original flop callers are still around, in four card Omaha improvement is very likely. This, of course, is one of the main advantages (and dangers!) in checking. Odds are someone will bet and someone else besides you will call, or perhaps even raise! Except in rare positions, you should not raise (possible bluffers) until the final round. Your typical win in this scenario is around FIFTEEN units (but is much more likely to occasionally take off and develop a big pot than is the driving scenario). Summarizing, even if it gets checked around after the flop, you rate to lose very little by not driving.

But if it does NOT get checked around, clearly this is better than driving yourself, except in the unlikely event that the bettor is a locksmith who scares everyone off (better check your cards). If the bettor is a loose type who gets many callers, you might just find yourself in the middle of Fat City. In this scenario, it is often correct to start raising after fourth street, depending on your position. All-in-all, someone else driving for you increases your typical haul by at least three units over the driving scenario, but has much better bonanza potential. Thus, even with this somewhat abbreviated analysis, the overall expectency of the pulling strategy (ie. trapping), does appear to be generally greater than pushing (ie. driving), even in limit play. But, keep in mind, that IF there is any substantial doubt about your hand winning, then you SHOULD PUSH your edge by driving. Again, the biggest negative in using the draw play, is that you might get unlucky and end up losing to some longshot.