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!