This hand took place at a Rockford Charities Poker Event and was witness by my friend Eddie.

There were 9 players with an average stack of $200  each in a $1-$2 no-limit game
The player under the gun calls $2 and 4 players behind him calls–pot total now is $10
The flop is–4h, 4c, 5c—All players check the flop
Turn card is 9s—All players check
River card is Qc
The board now is—-4h, 4c, 5c, 9s, Qc
All players check the river
The hands are now shown
Player under the gun showa–5d, 5s for a full house Fives Full of Fours!
Next player shows—4s, 4d for Quad Fours!
Other 3 players mucked their hands
The players holding these hands said they both were trying to TRAP—each hoping a late position player would bet since a third club hit on the river.
The player with quad 4’s won $10 – Nice slow play Alex (Asian Brad Twitt)

The Squeeze Play, Not For The Squeamish

The squeeze play is becoming a popular play online and in brick and mortar casinos. But if you don’t know what you are doing, you will find yourself down to the felt in no time. First I will address the fundamental skills you need to have mastered before you should attempt this play and then I will show you how to carve up your opposition.

Table Image
You need to have created a tight table image – my specialty. If you have been active in a lot of pots, attacking the blinds with frequency or are new to the table, you will not get credit for a big hand.

Just as important is understanding how your opponents are playing. Without this it is impossible to play the player. Players new to the table may be willing to gamble with you to set up a loose image or they may just believe you are the table bully and decide to take a stand right away to send a message. You want the players remaining to act to be capable of folding decent hands.

You do not want a caller behind you. The extra chips in the pot make the LAG player more likely to call and the tight player will have correct odds to call as well. Now you are dead to a miracle flop. If you are not confident in your read of the players involved, don’t try this play.

Gap Concept
This is a relatively simple idea that is credited to poker theorist/author David Sklansky. Quite simply, you must have stronger hand to call a raise than you need to start the action with a raise yourself.

As an example, consider a hand like KQ suited. This is a hand that you might raise if you were first into the pot from middle to late position. If a player in early position opened the action with a raise, you would usually be folding the hand fearing domination.

Be observant of the players at your table and recognize who is applying this concept and who is not. Only consider the squeeze play if the players involved are applying the gap concept. Some do and many do not.

Squeeze Play
A LAG player will open with a decent raise, at least 3 or 4 times the big blind. If they are putting in a nuisance raise by just doubling the blind, there will not be enough money in the pot to create a risk/reward situation that makes the squeeze play profitable.

A tight, solid player calls. You need to have a good read on this player and be reasonably confident their call signals a good hand rather than a strong hand attempting to trap the TAG player.

When the action folds to you, you re-raise and take the pot down. Your re-raise should be at least 5 times the opening raise. If you raise less, you are likely to get called by one or both players who feel they have either real or implied pot odds if the money is deep.

Cash or Tournament
Because players have a finite amount of chips, the squeeze play is frequently used in tournaments. You want to be aware of the stack sizes relative to the blinds. If players to act behind you are feeling pressure due to the size of the blinds, avoid using this play as they may see the extra chips in the pot as incentive take a shot at getting lucky with a sub-par hand.

Cash games also present opportunities to squeeze tight players. The dynamics of the table are usually a bit more stable so you can be more patient. Be aware of tilting players yet to act. Sometimes they will chuck in their last chips in a desperate attempt to recoup losses quickly. If it doesn’t work out, they will just buy more chips.

Caveat Emptor
Buyer beware, the squeeze play is for the advanced player. If your reads are not accurate, you will take huge losses trying to use this tactic. If your reads are accurate, this is a play you need to have in your arsenal because the rewards are too big to ignore. Good Luck to you!

A typical one table Sit N Go pays 1st place 50% of the prize pool. 2nd and 3rd receive 30% and 20 % respectively. This structure makes it pretty clear that 1st place is your only goal if you want to show a profit over the long run.

We are going to assume that you have played good poker and enjoyed your share of luck and now find yourself heads-up at the end of a Sit N Go. Now is the time to stop shifting gears and hit the nitro button.

If you have been in this spot before, you have probably seen people employing a seemingly simple and crazy strategy. They only have 2 moves; all in or fold. First you need to accept that this strategy is based purely on math. Psychology and betting patterns you may have been focusing on no longer apply. Who is the hammer (big stack) and who is the anvil (small stack) is also irrelevant.

Since this strategy is based on math, we will have to cover a couple equations. If math scares you, don’t worry. The equations are simple to learn and easy to apply. In fact, you could write everything down on an index card and use it as you play. Use this heads-up strategy in a few Sit N Go tournaments and you will find it is practically second nature.

Find R
First you want to calculate R. R is the ratio of the short stack (SS) to the big blind (BB). This is simply a matter of taking the short stack and dividing it by the big blind. Here is what the equation looks like:

SS ÷ BB = R

You do not need an exact number for R, just the nearest whole number. If the big blind is $1,000 and the short stack is $4,500 the ratio would be 4.5. I round it up to 5 but if you use 4 the difference in expectation is too small to have any significant impact over time. The other thing to note is that it does not matter whether you or your opponent is the short stack.

Find P
The next number you need to calculate is P. P is the power of your hand. P is based exclusively on the cards in your hand. Start with the base value (B). If your hand is suited, your base is 2. If you are holding a pair, your base is 22. All other starting hands have a base of 0.

Now find the value of your individual cards. The rank of the lower card (L) is equal to its rank. A jack is worth 11, queen 12, king 13 and an ace is 15. All other cards are equal to the number displayed. Calculate the value of the higher card (H) by multiplying its rank by 2.

Now add all three numbers together and you have your P. Base plus lower card plus the higher card times two equals the power. Here is what this equation looks like:

B + L + (H x 2) = P

So, the best hand in poker, pocket aces, would have a P of 67. 22 + 15 + (15 x 2) = 67. The worst hand according to poker experts, seven deuce off suit, would have a P of 16. 0 + 2 (7 x 2) = 16. In heads-up play, deuce trey suited is even worse with a P of 10. 2 + 2 + (3 x 2) = 10.

One reason this system only applies to heads-up play is because the value of being suited or connected is in your potential to win a big pot. Those big pots are created by several people contributing chips during post-flop play. There is no post-flop play with this strategy. Therefore, connectedness is completely irrelevant and being suited has only very marginal value.

Plug in the Numbers
Now simply take your two numbers and plug them into the table and your play is optimized. R tells you which row to use. If your P is smaller than the number listed, you fold. If it is equal to or bigger, you call the all in when you are the big blind and push all in when you are the small blind.

You obviously need a bigger P to call an all in bet than you would need to push all in yourself. Also note that this strategy only applies when R is 7 or lower. If R is higher than 7, you should continue to play the solid poker that got you to this point. This is why you may not be able to use this strategy in multi-table events. There are so many chips in play that the short stack in heads-up play will often have a double digit ratio to the big blind.

Now you are armed and ready. Next time you are heads-up at the end of a Sit N Go, don’t keep trying to shift gears, hit the nitro and take control of the heads-up play.

Good luck to you! and I hope after reading this I am not playing you heads up.