Thoughts on Squeezing

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Thoughts on Squeezing

by MiiWiin

In today's column we look an an interesting move that should be part of every No Limit Hold'em player's arsenal: the squeeze.

It's a fascinating technique, however it is often used in the wrong spots and with the wrong approach. That's why here we're asking the question: what exactly should we aim to achieve with a squeeze?

There'll be more on this topic in the future, focusing on specific questions about the opponent and ranges.

What exactly is a squeeze?

A squeeze is essentially a 3-bet which is played after an open raise and a call:

PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($100)
MP ($100)
CO ($100)
Hero ($100)
SB ($100)
BB ($100)

Preflop: Hero is BU with A, A
UTG raises to $4.00, 1 folds, CO calls $4.00, Hero raises to $17.00, ...

This should be familiar to everyone, the question is, however: why is this a "squeeze"? Surely you're just 3-betting for value?

Squeeze vs squeeze play

This is exactly right. That's why you can roughly assess if you squeeze for value or as a (semi) bluff. As ever, these are the two options (value/bluff).

Generally, when we're talking about a squeeze we mean a value play, while a bluff is referred to more often as a squeeze play.

The moment you decide on a value squeeze, the situation becomes crystal clear. In the example above you had quite a clear squeeze, as it's impossible to slowplay in this spot. Should you simply call, there's a realistic danger that the blinds will give themselves good odds and call as well. A 4-handed pot with your aces cannot and should not be the aim.

You protect and build up the pot. Naturally, you go all-in after a 4-bet. So it's quite a straightforward spot.

Advantages of squeeze (plays)

It only starts getting interesting when you use this move to force better hands to fold. What are the advantages of a squeeze?

There are quite a few advantages. For one, there is a high probability that you can take the pot preflop. You already have two pieces of information: one player has raised, one has only called.

The player who has only called the original raise will, in most cases, not be holding a strong hand, as he would probably have raised with it. So, you must assume that he's probably holding a hand that he wants to see the flop cheaply, but he doesn't see a reason to prevent a multi-way pot and protect his hand.

The probability that he will fold to a 3-bet from you is extremely high, as he won't get the right odds with these hands.

This leaves the original raiser. All you've seen from him, is that he's set an open raise. This can happen with a very wide range.

What options remain for the original raiser now? Of course, a call is conceivable, however, there's a further advantage here: the pot has got quite big from the caller, so your squeeze is bigger than with a normal 3-bet. So it will be much harder for your opponent to simply call, as he has to pay more.

He knows just as little about what sort of plan the cut off has in the above example. Usually, the player UTG won't have a hand he wants to play on the multi-way pot out of position. It goes without saying that he doesn't know if the cut-off will now fold, call or maybe even raise one more time.

UTG has a very difficult decision and, in most cases, will probably have to abandon his hand, unless of course he thinks it's strong enough for a 4-bet.

This is precisely the point where it starts getting interesting. A 4-bet is a strong move and only has the options 4-bet/fold or 4-bet/call. In NL Hold'em, decisions like this are almost always closely connected to the preflop equity. There's no hand with which you can invest half your stack preflop then afterwards still fold. For a move such as 4-bet/fold you need on one hand reads and on the other enough playing room to fold correctly.

4-bet/fold is hardly ever possible

If your opponent feels compelled to play against your squeeze and wants to 4-bet, he has two big problems.

The first problem has already been addressed above. He has to make you fold as well as the cut-off. So he has to expect less fold equity against two opponents.

The second is that you don't want him to make a 4-bet that would commit him. As a general rule you should 4-bet about 2.5 times the size of a 3-bet so as not to give your opponent very good odds. As you already squeezed to 17BB, the minimum would be 34BB. If he sticks to the rules and 4-bet a bit higher, he will likely 4-bet to 38BB.

If he does want to bet 2.5 times as much, in order to avoid any mistakes, he has to 4-bet to 42BB.

• If he raises to 34BB, he would get odds of 68/205.5 => 33% required equity, if you were to push.
• If he raises to 38BB, he would get odds of 62/205.5 => 30.2% required equity, if you were to push.
• If he raises to 42BB, he would get odds of 58/205.5 => 28.2% required equity, if you were to push.

So, your opponent needs a hand he can still easily put aside. In this case, we assume you have a strong squeeze range: JJ+/AKo/s.

Equity analysis
	Equity	Win	Split	Loss	Hand
Player 1	68.36%	68.07%	0.57%	31.36%	JJ+, AKs, AKo
Player 2	31.64%	31.36%	0.57%	68.07%	2 2

Equity analysis
	Equity	Win	Split	Loss	Hand
Player 1	70.17%	69.21%	1.92%	28.87%	JJ+, AKs, AKo
Player 2	29.83%	28.87%	1.92%	69.21%	A T

As you can see, your opponent has very little room to manouvre here. Depending on whether he 4-bets, he can already commit with most hands.

This means his hands are frequently tied, even he does regularly think you're bluffing, he'll generally not have any other option but to fold. A sensible alternative would be a direct push to a squeeze, however, in some circumstances this can be an even bigger mistake.

Why squeeze at all (bluff)?

You might like the play but is it even necessary? It's debatable whether it is absolutely necessary, however it does have lots of advantages:

Profitability:

You have to see the profitability of the move in itself as positive. Apart from loose 4-bets and marginal calls there's not a lot Villain can use against you. You'll regularly win the pot directly. In the end, you only need to bet around 15-18BB to win 7-8BB. So the move doesn't have to be successful that often.

Image:

"If you want action, you have to give action!"

If you play very tightly and your normal 3-bets are made up almost solely of value 3-bets, you shouldn't wildly grasp at squeezes at potentially the wrong moments.

After a certain point however, your game will begin to get looser, whether because you have gained more experience or simply due to an increase in the limits and the more aggressive opponents associated with this. You want to have a loose image and have your good hands paid off, so you should use as many suitable spots as possible to add weight to this aggression.

Balancing:

It doesn't make a lot of sense to play squeeze/fold preflop with strong hands. If you're holding jacks for example, you're more likely to find a call than to play squeeze/fold and in this way turn your hand into a bluff.

However, at the same time, this means that all of your squeezes are value squeezes, so you can only play squeeze/call (push). Over time this will become transparent, as everybody will recognise you're only doing it for value.

You should balance this with squeeze plays, which is why it's also not so bad if your squeeze plays will fail . You can let your opponents see that you can squeeze/fold.

Hardly any room for mistakes (few 3-bet/multi-way pots)

A tricky point. On one hand, difficult decisions make poker more interesting, the harder it is, the more likely you are to be able to play out your given edge. However, not everybody has an appropriate response to a difficult postflop game.

The fact is that with squeezes, you can avoid certain problems. You may turn hands into a bluff with more than acceptable equity or playability. However, you'll often find yourself perplexed postflop with dominated hands, even though you had hit.

So if you don't want to play a hand like this in a multi-way pot, a squeeze would be the comfortable, if not always ideal, solution.

What's more, as mentioned above, the size of the squeeze reduces the probability of being called. So you won't land in uncomfortable 3-bet pots too often.