The Squeeze Play

Things you will learn:

• What the 'squeeze' play is
• How to recognise when you're being squeezed - and when to 'squeeze' others

The 'squeeze' play is an effective (not to mention stylish) way to pick up chips with absolute rags. However, certain conditions need to be in place for it to succeed

One of poker's most influential authors, Mike Caro, invented a term for an illness that is something of an epidemic in the poker world these days. The term is 'Fancy Play Syndrome'. It currently infects a massive number of people who have some experience in the game, but are not experts.

A player suffering from Fancy Play Syndrome thinks like this:

• If I push all-in, she'll have to put me on aces and she'll fold her top pair
• If I limp with aces, I might win a really big pot here
• I'm sure he's got the nut flush. I'm going to fold my king-high flush

In themselves, these are all things that a good player might think. However, players suffering from Fancy Play Syndrome think these thoughts every single hand. Instead of making the standard, profitable play, they look for ways to deviate from that strategy so they can 'mix things up', or worse, look clever.

Fancy plays have their place - which is usually against intermediate opponents who you can read well. They are not designed to be used against beginners, who do not understand enough about the game to be predictable.

Against a beginner who you read to have top pair, you should not push all-in with nothing, thinking they will fold, because they won't. They'll think, "I have top pair, which is a good hand. I call."

Likewise, you don't limp in with strong hands, because there is no need to deceive a player as to what you're holding when they're not thinking about your hand in the first place. And don't even think about folding the second nuts!

Fancy plays are also not designed for very advanced players. They've seen them before and they know how to counter your moves. Advanced players can see right through your fancy plays and make the right decision regardless. Most importantly of all, fancy plays are supposed to be used sparingly. If you're constantly thinking about how to deceive your opponents, you won't be making the most profitable play in many situations.

If you're not careful, you'll turn into one of the easiest types of poker player to read - the person who bets and raises when they have a bad hand, but slow plays when they have a good hand. There are very few types of opponent that are easier to beat. With that said, let's discuss another fancy move - the squeeze play.

The squeeze play is both a bluffing technique and a collusion technique. Here we'll be discussing the bluff, but both techniques have the same goal, which is to represent great strength and force your opponents out of the pot after they've already committed chips.

A perfectly executed squeeze play goes like this:

• Player A opens for a raise
• Player B calls and you put in a big re-raise (perhaps all-in) with absolute rags
• Player A folds, worrying about both your raise and player B, who is still to act behind him. Player B also folds
• In effect, by re-raising big, you are 'squeezing' player A out of the pot. He's trapped between you, who is representing great strength, and Player B, who could be slow-playing a big hand. He feels his only option is to fold

It's obviously a very risky move, as you're putting a lot of chips at risk with a very weak hand. When you do get called you will usually be a significant underdog so it's recommended that you only try it when you're really confident it will work.

Squeeze plays work best in the late stages of a multi-table tournament. In cash games and the early stages of a tournament, the stacks are often so deep that the technique isn't worth the risk relative to your potential winnings. In Sit & Gos, the stacks are often too short for this technique to be effective, as you'll often offer excellent pot odds to player B when you move all-in.

The squeeze play is a powerful technique when used correctly and it can completely baffle your opponents. It's an excellent way to loosen up your game if you have a tight reputation. But use it carefully, or it could be you walking to the rail instead of your opponents.

You may have seen squeeze plays, both failed and successful, in televised poker tournaments. When they fail, it's generally because the person trying to execute the move has picked the wrong moment. Some very specific conditions are required:

You must have a tight image - the move won't work unless you can represent a strong hand. If you have a loose image, you might get loose calls from your opponents. You also shouldn't try to make this move if you've already done so recently, even if you had a strong hand the first time.

Your opponents must be neither experts nor beginners - experts will see through the move while beginners will call with most hands anyway.

Player A must be open-raising with lots of hands. If the opener is very tight, they will probably have a strong hand and you may well get called and be in big trouble.

Player B must be aware of this and doesn't need a very strong hand to have called. Player B must simply call and not re-raise. If he re-raises, he probably has a strong hand and it's likely you'll be called.

Your raise must be big enough that Player B isn't getting good pot odds to call, or he must not understand that he should call if your raise does offer good pot odds.