Johnny Cashout

Squeeze Play | How to Use the Poker Squeeze Play

Posted on 27. Mar, 2011 by Johnny Cashout in No-Limit Cash Strategies

The squeeze play is one of the most popular and exciting poker strategies to utilize.  Especially with Online Poker, when used correctly, squeezing against weak, nitty-like TAG opponents can be very profitable. In today’s post, we will cover what exactly a poker squeeze play is, how to execute one, and what to look for in opponents in order for this strategy to be successful!

What is A Squeeze Play?

Essentially, the squeeze play is when two players that act before or first, raise and call preflop respectively.  Then, the squeeze is coming over the top and taking down the pot.  For example, if John is first to act and he raises 3x the big blind, Joe acts after John and calls this raise.  Then you are on the button and decide to pop up 10x the bigblind and they both after. Squeezing generally implies a very strong hand.

However, for this strategy..it can also act as a semi-bluff / steal.

This squeeze strategy is very commonly used during poker tournament or sit and go play.  It is a good way to accumulate a lot of chips as a shortstack when you shove all-in to steal both the blinds and raises.  However, for today’s topic, we will address how this play can be profitable for cash games as well!

When and Who to Squeeze?

When playing cash games, you will notice that a lot of the more aggressive regs utilize this poker move when the opportunity presents.  However, it is not +EV or profitable to blindly squeeze any two raises ahead.  Knowing when to squeeze is very critical to making this play correct and profitable!  The most ideal situation for this would be to have position against the players and the best possible spot for that would be for us to be on the button.  This gives us less chance for someone who actually has a monster hand to take down the entire pot behind us.  For example:

(example of poor use of table position for play)

UTG: raises 3x blind

UTG+1: calls

Me: re-raises 10x big blind

folds to dealer

Dealer: re-raises Allin

When we utilize our table position more effectively, then we have less chance of the above scenario from happening as the only two players left to act would be the blinds.  Also, it is better to consider using this play when players other than UTG raise as it is often a very strong indicator of the strength of their hand when they raise from UTG. What that means:

Based on your table position, players have a range from when they open.  When you are under the gun or first to act, your range of hands you should play are drastically smaller / tighter than when someone is in better position i.e. dealer.  So if someone is willing to pop the blinds to 3.5x or more, that generally means their hand is a lot stronger.  If hands are folded around until say middle positions, then the poker squeeze play here would be in better shape.

Another key factor to executing this poker play would be to consider WHO we are trying to squeeze against.  This play is very profitable when we can exploit the weaker/tighter type opponents, but not the incredibly super NITs (the ones that only play AK/KK/AA) as they will probably shove against any type of re-raise.  We also want to look for players that like to see a lot of flops i.e. those that call raises in early or middle positions with small to medium pocket pairs.

To specify these players with HUDS:

TAG like players ~15/11.  Loose callers ~high vpips/low pfrs.

Now that we know what, when, and and who..it is time for everyone’s favorite question..

How Much do we Bet?!

There is no CORRECT answer as it often depends on the situation i.e. who you are playing against, their stack sizes and etc.  But mathematically speaking we want to make it worse off for them in terms of their pot odds and better off for us to make it +EV in the long run to continue this play.  What that means is you don’t want to be sacrificing your entire 100bb all-in to be stealing two 3x raises.  If we do that 5 times and get caught once, we are deep in the hole:

4/5 times success =

WON 4×6 big blinds = 24 BBs

LOSS 1x100big blinds = -100BBs

TOTAL -76BB.
We ideally want a better situation in which we can win these pots 2 out of 3 times.  So my general rule of thumb is to bet both the raises ahead and multiply that number by two + BB.  For example, I am currently playing in $50NL cash game tables and the standard raise is to $1.50.  When two people raise and call that, it is up to $3.00 in the pot + blinds.  I will generally raise to ~$6.5.  Having this play work two out of three times will be profitable in the long-run.

Lastly,

What Do We Want to Squeeze With?

Unless you have some amazing reads on your opponents, you don’t want to be making this poker play every single opportunity blindly with any two cards.  When they call and you are sitting there with 2-7 offsuit you will be kicking yourself in the face.  Instead, try to make this play when all the scenarios described above are favorable for you and also when you have Decent Drawing Hands..and of course monster pocket pairs etc.  Decent drawing hands will at least give you a chance to continue playing post flop..otherwise you generally want to give up when caught.  Cbetting into these will get you into a lot of trouble when you have absolute air.
If any of this was confusing, please don’t hesitate to ask questions or draw up a discussion with comments below!

Related Posts:

• Using HUDS: Stealing Blinds 101

Tags: how to use the poker squeeze, squeeze play, table position