Side note: rilla, I love Calvin and Hobbes and that is one of my fav strips

The rope a dope is pretty much what the guys before said. I can explain it by giving an example. You bet pretty big preflop, let's say with 99, and the aggro calls. Flop comes 449. Now, the aggro has to have put you on high cards with your pf raise so you throw out a decent bet, 1/4 to 1/2 the pot basically saying "hey i missed but i'm following up my pf raise with a flop bet". This shows u missed, ur weak, and ur trying to hide it. Aggros live for these kinds of bets and they should come over the top of you huge. Thus the trap has been set and the aggro has stepped into it.