Squeeze Play: A Double Edged Sword.

Texas Hold'EM owes its popularity to the fact that it is played against other people, and not, as with most other casino games, the house. Instead of working out a gaming strategy, as is the case with Roulette or Blackjack, you will need to adjust your game according to the players with whom you are playing.

You are playing against human beings, and what is more human than telling a little lie from time to time? The science of bluffing allows people to bring in a pot that they would not otherwise have been able to had they been in a straightforward battle based on the strength of their participating hands.

Squeeze Play: A simple Bluff Will Suffice:

One of my favourite methods of bluffing is the ‘squeeze play'. The ‘squeeze play' is so named because it consists of taking by the scruff-of-the-neck (metaphorically not figuratively) a player who is happy to pay another player's raise. The methodology behind the squeeze is simple enough in itself, but it rests on the predictability of other players gaming, the main stages of this technique are broken down thus:

1. An initial player opens (e.g. at the cut-off) with a standard raise (in being the first player to speak).
2. A second player is happy to follow the raise (e.g. the player in the small blind position).
3. A third player re-raises, by going all-in, and is last to speak (e.g. the player in the big blind position.

The principle idea behind this manoeuvre is that the initial raiser will, from time to time, have a good opening hand with which to raise, but rarely a strong enough hand to match a re-raise, and does not know what the player behind him will do. The initial raiser is stuck. This effect, of being trapped, is what the person performing the squeeze is looking for.

The initial raiser will often have the odds to pay you, but the fact that another player has spoken after him will paralyse him completely and prevent him from taking his chances and going head-to-head. Unless the ‘squeezed' player has a monster hand, or a very, very good reason to see your bluff, the only option he has left is to fold his hand and cut his losses.

In regards to the second player, he must surely have had a good enough hand to pay the initial raise and therefore find himself leading at the flop. But the squeeze forces him to pay a much higher raise, he thus finds himself out of the leading position on the following round! He will, like the first player, then fold the majority of the time, and the ‘squeezer' will win the pot, without even having to go to the flop.

BEWARE! The ‘squeeze' is a technique that is extremely risky and should only be attempted if all of the conditions are present to perform it.

The following paragraphs show two different examples of ‘squeeze play' realised in situations of intense pressure at the end of the ‘Main Event' of the WSOP. The first example describes a time when the squeeze failed to pull-off the technique due to poor evaluation of the situation. The second demonstrates a well executed squeeze; this bluff can even work when you have nothing in hand worth playing.

A Poorly Executed Squeeze that Proved Expensive: Manuel Bevand at the 2008 WSOP:

During the ‘Main Event' of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2008, Manuel Bevand was the best player of the Team Winamax group and one of those French rarities who finds himself playing in a paying position. After a good run on day 3, the following night found him on day 4 with a stack of 270, 000, far from the average, but with enough to wait for a good opportunity to double with blinds of 3, 000 (SB) and 6, 000 (BB).

This is how the situation arose that ‘ManuB' was able to attempt his favourite coup, a bluff that he employs at least once in every tournament, the ‘squeeze'.

A player in the hijack position (two places before the button) raises to 20, 000. The player just after him at the cut-off decides to follow. Bevand takes a couple of seconds to reflect then goes All-In with 270, 000!!!!

The first player folds and the second pays instantly with a 10 of Hearts and a 10 of Diamond. Bevand returns a very average hand with a Jack of Hearts and a 7 of Hearts! The subsequent deal will bring him nothing, and the Frenchman will be eliminated from the tournament.

What Went Wrong?

Manuel Bevand had taken advantage of the times that he was not in play, observing the table, and up until this point he had been right on the money with his play. He had identified the initial raiser as an aggressive player, and the second player as more-or-less passive.

The coup was thus constructed with logic and the situation leant it self well for a ‘squeeze'. Bevand explains the reason for his decision: "I did this because if it had worked out I would have had a stack of 350, 000 which would have allowed me to be a large threat after the flop. I was 99% sure of the read [-a ‘read' is your evaluation of your opponents playing style, which you establish by observing their body language and the poker strategies that they employ] I had made on the first player, but I forgot that the second player occasionally had a good hand, even if that's quite rare with a player of his profile".

In fact, ManuB forgot that the second player was already happy to pay the raise on a preceding round....with a pair of 10's! Covering well the French player, the second player had not hesitated to risk everything on the flip of a coin in order to chance being in a leading position. The only real error in this whole situation was the fact that Bevand went All-In, he could have simply attempted the squeeze with 70, 000 instead of risking everything. His opponent would then probably have re-raised and ManuB could have folded his hand. It is very difficult to imagine that the second player would have paid the re-raise with a medium hand (and sure enough he did not). But the pressure of the tournament, the dulcet rhythm into which the table had descended, and the tiredness of playing for five days in an intense, pressured, environment all culminated in Manuel Bevand letting slip his concentration: "I'm tired but I haven't yet come down from the rush provoked by the pace. I haven't yet come down, even if I'm liking less and less the hand that I went out with. But you need to know how to take risks when you have the inclination to do so. The move was good, but the amount I bet with was too much...the ‘spot' wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. I had the urge to play, but I didn't have to (although it remains the EV [- expected value])."

This situation reveals to you how important it is to be SURE AND CERTAIN of your ‘reads' before attempting to execute the ‘squeeze play' manoeuvre. (N.B. a ‘read' is your evaluation of your opponents playing style, which you establish by observing their body language and the poker strategies that they employ.)

Dan Harrington Successfully Accomplishes the Squeeze Manoeuvre:

The following is example, taken from the WSOP 2004, of a successfully executed 'Squeeze' and shows how a well managed squeeze can allow you to bring in a large volume of chips, and how it can make the difference between dying with small stacks or conquering your opponents when armed with a large stack. This move was outlaid during at the final table when only seven players remained.

Small Blind: Glen Hughes $2, 375, 000
Big Blind: David Williams $3, 250, 000
1 Josh Arieh: $3, 890, 000
2 Al Krux: 2, 175, 000
3 Greg Raymer: $7, 920, 000
4 Matt Dean: $3, 435, 000
5 Dan Harrington: $2, 320, 000

The blinds are 40, 000/80, 000 with an ante of 10, 000, the pot is thus at 190, 000 at the beginning of the hand.

Josh Arieh opens with a raise of 225, 000 with a King of Hearts and a 9 of Spades, a little less than 3x the big blind. At this moment he is one of the most active players at the table.

Al Krux folds his hand.

Greg ‘Fossil Man' Raymer has not participated in a hand for a long-time now and decides to follow with an Ace of Clubs and a 3 of Clubs.

Matt Dean folds his hand.

Dan Harrington could have folded his hand, a six of Hearts and a 2 of Diamonds, but Raymer's call meant that the ideal conditions now exist for a successful ‘squeeze'. The table is playing mostly large and the players are finding that they are often tempted to see the flop, so that they do not lose much money when their odds are quite good. Now, an average raise of 500, 000 is not sufficient enough to discourage the curious players. For this reason and because all the elements are in place for a well executable ‘squeeze', Dan Harrington re-raises with a whooping 1, 200, 000!

Glen Hughes then folds his hand, who, like David Williams, had the best hand by a mile, with an Ace of Hearts and a Queen of Clubs, but who was not willing to tempt fate in this instance.

Josh Arier is suddenly starting to wobble with his hand, King of Hearts and 9 of Spades, and two players behind him. Taking a rational approach, he folds his hand.

Greg Raymer, starting from the principle that he is up against an Ace but with a better kicker, or against a small or medium pair, but in either case the odds were too great for the amount of the bet and he folds too.

When and How do you Attempt a ‘Squeeze'?

Nothing is more satisfying than pulling-off a successful ‘squeeze play' and you can win a huge amount of chips with this manoeuvre, particularly when the blinds are sufficiently high. But before taking yourself to be the Super-Squeeze-Man and throwing yourself into the void, you need to take several precautions in order that you do not crash and burn with an embarrassing attempt at a bluff. Take note of the following advice and you will have a good foundational understanding of what is needed to carry out a successful ‘squeeze', and also be adding another bow to your belt as poker player extraordinaire:

1. First things first, you need to have good reason to believe that the initial raiser will not have a strong enough hand to pay your re-raise. Obviously, the more precisely you have observed the raiser's ‘tells' (- a ‘tell' is something in their manner or play that they accidentally allow you to see that lets you understand a little more about them, it is a ‘tell' that you ‘read') the easier and more accurate your decision will be. It is with this genre of play that all the information you have accumulated about your opponents will give you the greatest dividend.
If you have noticed that the raiser often opens when he is in position, then this is a good sign. If he pauses or leans back slightly at the moment when he picks up his cards, just before he bets, fold a hand that will not be able to beat a pair of Kings or Aces. To make things simple, you should know if the first player has a tendency to raise with a medium hand, or not, when he is first to speak. This seemingly insignificant piece of information can suffice to justify a ‘squeeze' if your instinct tells you that this is what he is doing. The ideal type of raiser that should be target for this move is the ‘large-aggressive' type.
2. The second player has just paid the raise, instead of re-raising. If he had re-raised before you got the chance to speak, you can safely assume that he either had a monster, at least an Ace-King, or a pair of Jacks or a high number pair. In no case will your re-raise make him fold, especially once the initial raiser has folded his hand. The fact of paying the initial raise indicates, in general, a hand that will see the flop, notably a small pair or three-of-a-kind (e.g. assorted connecters), but to pay a second raiser. The idea is thus, that the second player has a player-profile of ‘large-passive'.
3. You need to have a very well-formed, confident, table image. Ideally you will project an image of ‘tight' player and your opponents will only have seen you with premium hands in the rounds that you have been party to. If you have been caught out undertaking willy-nilly bluffs, then you will find it very, very, hard to successfully carry out a ‘squeeze'.
The ‘squeeze' is an impressive, but risky, technique that rests as much on the fact that your opponents do not think you are capable of bluffing than it does on your ability to carry it out. If you think they will be able to see through your bluff or that you have given them good reason to believe you are in bluff, then abandon the move until you have managed to recreate the image of a ‘tight' player, for example, by only playing two, very good, hands in the previous two hours of the tournament.
4. Avoid undertaking multiple ‘squeezes' in the course of the same session or on the same table of the tournament. In fact, two ‘squeezes' per tournament is probably in itself too much.

‘Squeeze play' is, in a sense, the crux of a game of poker. Its failure is catastrophic, but its success is monumental. You will need to draw upon well-developed observational skills and be able to play perfectly against your opponents hands. When you have begun to win larger stacks with less good hands then this means that you have already come a long way down the long, and arduous, road to success. One thing is certain- you should never overuse the ‘squeeze play':

One ‘squeeze'= good                                                         Two+ ‘squeeze'= bad.

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