Poker Basics - The Squeeze Play

A very powerful preflop tool but what hands should you do it with? We explain the 'Squeeze Play' concept and when to do it.

Today we introduce a tried and tested preflop move that was first popularised by Dan Harrington in his Harrington On Hold'em books - the squeeze play, which is very powerful for online poker.

The Squeeze Play happens when one player raises preflop, another player calls, and then a third player reraises over the two of them. It got its name because it is designed to 'squeeze' players out of the pot. 

So in a $1/$2 game a player in the Cutoff might raise to $6, the Button might call for $6 and you decide to 'squeeze' for $24 from the Big Blind, hoping to take down a $15 pot. 

The goal of a Squeeze Play is to take down a substantial pot preflop but when you get a caller you get to play post flop with initiative and range advantage, making it more likely you can take down the pot on the flop. 

Back in the day the ideal scenario to make a Squeeze Play was when a loose player raised and a tight player called. This set up a scenario where the loose player doesn't want to call your raise because they are worried about the tight player acting after them, and the tight player is likely to fold afterwards because you have shown too much strength for them.

Squeezing works best when you are late in position, as the Button or one of the blinds. The Squeeze Play works best when we assume quite a wide range from the initial raiser, which is less likely when they are raising under the gun. When we squeeze as one of the blinds we don't have to worry about a 4th player coming over the top of us either.

What hands to squeeze with?

The conventional wisdom used to go that you can do the Squeeze Play with pure air as a bold bluff, or perhaps with a speculative hand like 7 5 which could hit a disguised monster if you were called. 

In more recent years the solver technology has identified that Squeeze Plays are much better to do with the weaker part of your value range, as well as your biggest hands like AA, KK, QQ and AK. So hands like suited Aces, suited Broadway, AQo and medium strength pairs. 

We use hands like this for two reasons. First of all Ax and suited Broadway hands contain blockers for the sort of hands that would call or 4-bet you. When you squeeze with a hand like ATs it is less likely your opponent will have a hand like AA, AK, AQ or TT to fire back at you. 

Secondly these are hands that do not play well multiway but tend to have good equity against one caller. A hand like 99 does not play well against two opponents because you usually have to make a set, but it does very well against one opponent who has a range made up of a lot of Ax type hands. 

Because you have raised big before the flop, these means you will have a low stack to pot ratio, making one pair hands like 99 or AQo much easier to play after the flop. 

Squeezing with speculative hands might feel cool, but you are much better off taking advantage of the enticing pot odds you get when you just flat call after two players have entered the pot with a hand like 67s or 44. These hands play well multi way and you want more players in the pot, not less.

Finally, it is important to include big hands like AA and KK in your squeezing range for value and in particular to help you defend against a player 4-betting over your squeeze. If you never have a hand that can call a 4-bet in your squeezing range you will be easily exploited. 

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