Novice poker players often make the mistake of playing two big cards or even an ace at an early position and then calling raises. This is a mistake because doing this can easily lead to these cards becoming trap hands.

A trap hand is one that has a high likelihood of becoming the second-best hand, which can turn out to be quite expensive if you flop to it. The most common trap hands are A-T, A-J, K-Q, K-J, K-T, Q-J and Q-T. With this type of a hand, many players are tempted to limp in from early position and call raise in late position. Thus, if you limp with K-J from early position, and someone in late position raises it, you might find yourself trapped against common raising hands such as K-Qs, A-K, AJ-s, AA, KK and QQ.

Another mistake is when players call raise with this kind of hand. Common raising hands from early position typically are AA, KK, QQ, JJ, A-Q and A-K. Thus, it would be fatal to call a raise with a trap hand when the person raising is probably holding the above mentioned cards.

Learning to handle trap hands is also an art. Trap hands should be played if you are in late position and are first in, which will lead to the trap hand becoming a raising hand. It is important that all novice players playing poker should use an odds calculator to determine their starting hands.