I haven't seen this mentioned in any of the training vids yet (probably cos the pros like to keep these sort of secrets to themsleves imo), but there's a really sneaky little play doing the rounds at the moment where certain players are deceptively trapping their opponents with x9 type hands. I've been the victem no less than 5 times in the last 2 days, so thought I'd better warn the rest of the TPE community about it.

First off there's the 3-bet call with A9o:

Poker Stars $32.13+$2.87 No Limit Hold'em Tournament – t150/t300 Blinds + t25 – 8 players
TournamentPokerEdge.com Hand History Converter
 

pwmike17 (MP1): BB = 13.3, t3990
pentmar (MP2): BB = 14.3, t4275
Hero (CO): BB = 16.2, t4863
HITTHEPANDA (BTN): BB = 23.6, t7075
steambull (SB): BB = 16.5, t4963
sharpan (BB): BB = 37.0, t11108
verybadday (UTG): BB = 10.7, t3202
joszunabot18 (UTG+1): BB = 18.3, t5486

Pre Flop: (t650) Hero is CO with A A
1 fold, joszunabot18 raises to t600, 1 fold, pentmar raises to t1500, Hero raises to t4838 all in, 4 folds, pentmar calls t2750 all in

Flop: (t9750) T 8 J (2 players – 2 are all in)

Turn: (t9750) 6 (2 players – 2 are all in)

River: (t9750) 7 (2 players – 2 are all in)

Final Pot: t9750
pentmar shows 9 A (a straight, Seven to Jack)
Hero shows A A (a pair of Aces)
pentmar wins t9750

 

I fell right into this one and hung my head in shame after he snap called my jam. Don't know what I was thinking there…

This guy was even trickier and slow played my dominated hand for all it was worth:

Poker Stars $40+$10+$4 No Limit Hold'em Tournament – t40/t80 Blinds – 8 players
TournamentPokerEdge.com Hand History Converter
 

ARARAT ANAPA (UTG+1): t2875 35.94 BBs
chezna13 (MP1): t3000 37.50 BBs
Hero (MP2): t2806 35.08 BBs
antp333 (CO): t3485 43.56 BBs
KOHCTAHTA (BTN): t2540 31.75 BBs
thehills1 (SB): t2965 37.06 BBs
Real Mr Ryan (BB): t13850 173.12 BBs
KingOfThe$ea (UTG): t4934 61.67 BBs

Pre Flop: (t120) Hero is MP2 with A A
3 folds, Hero raises to t200, 3 folds, Real Mr Ryan calls t120

Flop: (t440) 9 4 5 (2 players)
Real Mr Ryan checks, Hero bets t352, Real Mr Ryan calls t352

Turn: (t1144) 9 (2 players)
Real Mr Ryan checks, Hero bets t800, Real Mr Ryan calls t800

River: (t2744) 7 (2 players)
Real Mr Ryan bets t3200, Hero calls t1454 all in

Final Pot: t5652
Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Nines)
Real Mr Ryan shows A 9 (three of a kind, Nines)
Real Mr Ryan wins t5652

 

So based on the 9's trips and straight potential, these guys make super easy calls on almost CONSECUTIVE hands:

Poker Stars $50+$5 No Limit Hold'em Tournament – t800/t1600 Blinds + t150 – 9 players
TournamentPokerEdge.com Hand History Converter
 

A.Bech.24 (MP1): BB = 28.2, t45136
Hero (MP2): BB = 6.9, t11041
MarkosRus (CO): BB = 7.1, t11285
AliStatus33 (BTN): BB = 8.2, t13150
RenTob (SB): BB = 6.3, t10063
L.B.FreD (BB): BB = 1.4, t2187
SupaGlunya (UTG): BB = 23.1, t37032
proxikiller (UTG+1): BB = 8.1, t12970
yflo (UTG+2): BB = 21.3, t34056

Pre Flop: (t3750) Hero is MP2 with J A
4 folds, Hero raises to t10891 all in, 3 folds, L.B.FreD calls t437 all in

Flop: (t6224) 5 7 9 (2 players – 2 are all in)

Turn: (t6224) 6 (2 players – 2 are all in)

River: (t6224) 9 (2 players – 2 are all in)

Final Pot: t6224
Hero shows J A (a pair of Nines)
L.B.FreD shows J 9 (three of a kind, Nines)
L.B.FreD wins t6224

 

Poker Stars $50+$5 No Limit Hold'em Tournament – t1000/t2000 Blinds + t200 – 9 players
TournamentPokerEdge.com Hand History Converter
 

A.Bech.24 (BB): BB = 3.9, t7880
Hero (UTG): BB = 4.2, t8304
MarkosRus (UTG+1): BB = 5.3, t10585
Spokercal (UTG+2): BB = 12.8, t25639
RenTob (MP1): BB = 4.3, t8563
L.B.FreD (MP2): BB = 8.9, t17898
SupaGlunya (CO): BB = 22.6, t45108
proxikiller (BTN): BB = 4.6, t9270
yflo (SB): BB = 34.7, t69312

Pre Flop: (t4800) Hero is UTG with J K
Hero raises to t8104 all in, 4 folds, SupaGlunya calls t8104, 3 folds

Flop: (t21008) T 7 J (2 players – 1 is all in)

Turn: (t21008) 8 (2 players – 1 is all in)

River: (t21008) 5 (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t21008
Hero shows J K (a pair of Jacks)
SupaGlunya shows 9 K (a straight, Seven to Jack)
SupaGlunya wins t21008

 

I was the obvious sucker at this table that's for sure!

And today I came across the old flatting with the monster J9o hoping to induce a shove trick:

Poker Stars $40+$4 No Limit Hold'em Tournament – t100/t200 Blinds + t25 – 8 players
TournamentPokerEdge.com Hand History Converter
 

Csabesz3 (CO): BB = 26.8, t5361
Tigra789 (BTN): BB = 7.5, t1510
HhCMotU (SB): BB = 15.3, t3065
Bbc31 (BB): BB = 10.9, t2175
Freund Nase (UTG): BB = 34.5, t6905
vandamme6417 (UTG+1): BB = 39.2, t7845
yardKR (MP1): BB = 29.3, t5865
Hero (MP2): BB = 5.7, t1136

Pre Flop: (t500) Hero is MP2 with A A
Freund Nase raises to t400, vandamme6417 calls t400, 1 fold, Hero raises to t1111 all in, 3 folds,Bbc31 raises to t2150 all in, 1 fold, vandamme6417 calls t1750

Flop: (t6111) 4 9 3 (3 players – 2 are all in)

Turn: (t6111) 7 (3 players – 2 are all in)

River: (t6111) 9 (3 players – 2 are all in)

Final Pot: t6111
Bbc31 shows A T (a pair of Nines)
vandamme6417 shows J 9 (three of a kind, Nines)
Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Nines)
vandamme6417 wins t2078
vandamme6417 wins t4033

 

Masterful stuff!

So if you see anyone min 3betting, or flatting you oop, alarms bells should be going off and you should be mucking those one pair type hands without even thinking twice (unless of course you have 99 which has 2 blockers to the nuts, so you should be fairly safe).