The Squeeze Play in No-Limit Hold’em Poker

Squeezing means three-betting a pot when there has already been a raiser and at least one caller. It is called a squeeze because it’s done with the intention of applying pressure on both the raiser and caller or “squeezing out” players from the pot.

For example: Player A open raises from the hijack and Player B calls on the button. Player C then makes a large three-bet from the big blind. Player A and Player B both fold. Player C scoops the pot with their squeeze play.

The squeeze play is an aggressive preflop action that can be used as both a value bet and bluff. With perfect timing and execution, you can win big pots without a fight or build the pot with the intention of winning it on later streets.

This article will cover all aspects of the squeeze play in poker, outlining how to use it and build your range, opponents to target and avoid, and how to defend against a squeeze play yourself. By the time you’ve read this, you’ll be well equipped to add this dangerous move to your arsenal of poker plays.

The Mechanics of Squeeze Play

Let’s break down a realistic example of a squeeze play, complete with hole cards, so that you can start to see how it works. We’ll then break down some of the mechanics of executing a perfect squeeze. Here’s an example to get you started:

Player A: K♣10♣
Player B: 6♥6♦
Player C: A♠5♠

Stack sizes are around 40 big blinds effective. Player A raises to 2bb from the cutoff and Player B calls on the button. Player C is in the big blind. Flat calling to see a flop would be a reasonable play, but they suspect that Player A is opening wide and Player B is calling wide on the button to play in position. Player C three-bets to around nine big blinds and both other players fold. At shallower stack depths, both squeeze sizing and frequency need to be adjusted.

Okay, now let’s break down exactly what is going on when you make a squeeze play.

The Squeeze Dynamic and Hand Ranges

First of all, the squeeze play is most effective when the raiser and caller have fairly wide ranges. If the original raiser is very tight or raising from early position, their range is going to consist of hands that they are happy to stack off with. If they are raising wide to steal blinds, as is often the case in tournaments, especially against late-position raises, they will have a lot more medium strength hands and bluffs that they will have to raise-fold.

Likewise, when we make a squeeze, we’re assuming that the calling player has a lot of medium strength hands in their range. Otherwise, they would have already three-bet themselves against the original raiser. Unless they are trapping, which they should only be doing in certain situations, the calling player has already capped their rang by not three-betting.

Player A: Wide opening range
Player B: Loose and capped calling range
Player C: Applies pressure with squeeze play

An effective squeeze play, then, especially when used as a bluff, relies on playing against these wider ranges that will often fold. If your opponents have tighter ranges consisting of strong hands, you should lean towards squeezing for value.

Generating Fold Equity

So far, we know that the raising player has a wide range and the calling player has a capped range, at least most of the time. This allows us to attack those weak ranges rather than taking more passive betting lines like flat calling. By three-betting, we generate what is known as fold equity.

Assuming you are not drawing dead, which is practically never the case preflop, your hand has at least some equity against your opponent’s range. In other words, you’ll win at least some of the time. Fold equity is the additional amount that can be gained by winning the pot when your opponent folds. If you can pull off a squeeze, you’ll scoop a big pot preflop.

Making any three-bet generates fold equity, because your opponent will be forced to fold out some of the hands that they raised with.

A squeeze play in poker can generate even more fold equity by leveraging your opponents against each other.

Going back to our example, imagine Player A senses that Player C is squeezing as a bluff. They may consider calling or even four-betting rather than folding. But they still have to consider the caller, Player B, who is still left to act behind and will retain position if they come along. This creates additional pressure and discourages the raiser from continuing in the pot, leaving the decision on the caller, who, as mentioned, often has a weak or capped range.

Avoiding Multiway Pots

Making a three-bet squeeze play in poker will help you to avoid awkward multiway pots in which you’ll often be forced to fold if you miss your hand. By three-betting and generating fold equity, you can encourage one or more players to fold. Even if you get one caller, it’s much easier to play heads-up with both your value hands and bluffs, especially given that you’ll have initiative with an uncapped range.

For example, let’s say that you have pocket aces facing a raiser and caller. If you flat called the bet, you’d be up against two opponents, making it much more likely that someone will make two pair, a set, or a draw that completes on a later street. If you squeeze and only one player calls, your aces will play very well postflop.

Likewise, against two players, it’s more likely one of them hits and much harder to execute a profitable bluff. If you use the squeeze play as a bluff and get called by one opponent, they will usually miss the flop and it will be easier to get them off their hand by continuing to represent a strong hand postflop.

Squeeze Play Bet Sizing

In order for your squeeze play to be effective, you’ll need to use a bet sizing that can get the job done. As we’ve discovered, you’ll want to generate enough fold equity to get one or more players to fold so that you can either scoop the pot or play your hand heads-up.

The reason for the difference in bet sizing is that you’ll be happier to take down pots preflop from out of position to avoid difficult postflop situations. From in position, you don’t mind seeing a call as much because you can win more with your value hands and get bluffs through with relative ease. Your range is also likely to be more polarized out of position, which suits a larger bet sizing.

Building Your Squeezing Range

There’s not an absolute squeezing range because, as with any other poker concept, it will depend mostly on our opponents’ tendencies. As a general guideline, a fairly wide range can be profitable to squeeze.

First of all, let’s consider our position at the table. It is often better to squeeze out of position than in position. The reason is quite simple: when in position, we have a great advantage over our opponents, so playing our hand and seeing the flop is not always a bad idea. On the other hand, by squeezing out of position, we take the initiative, and we put our opponent in a situation where they have to take a difficult decision to make.

Let’s build our three-bet squeeze range, starting with value hands. Please keep in mind that these ranges are not absolute. They should be adapted for each situation based on factors like stack sizes, position, opponent’s ranges and so on.

Value Squeeze Hands

There are very few situations in which you should ever flat call with a premium hand against a raise and a call, because you don’t want to play in a multiway pot if it can be avoided. You’d rather reraise and build the pot versus a single opponent. So, you can start by squeezing with your very strong hands.

Nearly always squeeze with: AA, KK, QQ, AK
Often squeeze with: JJ, TT, AQ
Sometimes squeeze with: Medium pairs, AJ, KQ, KJs

Which hands you squeeze from these lists depends a lot on the positions and ranges of your opponent. We’ll cover that in more detail soon. The key here is that your opponents have worse hands that they will call with. We want to get action, preferably from a single player.

Your strong hands will perform well against the raiser and caller’s range, can usually call all in to a 4-bet, and you’ll also benefit from the additional fold equity gained by three-betting.

Bluff Squeeze Hands

We can’t always just squeeze with our best hands, as our cards would effectively be face up. Opponents could always fold to your three-bets unless they are strong themselves, as they would know that you’re holding a premium hand. On top of that, you’ll miss opportunities to win large pots preflop if you never squeeze as a bluff.

Among the best squeeze bluff hands are those with a blocker. A card is considered a “blocker” when it limits the possible combination of a given range. For example, if we hold an Ace, we are decreasing the possibility that our opponents hold strong aces (AQ+, AA). So, Ax and Kx are good hands to squeeze.

Other good hands to squeeze with include suited connectors, as they tend to have a decent amount of equity even against a strong calling range. They can flop well, giving you a chance to continue with a semi-bluff or value bet postflop.

Against opponents who tend to fold to three-bets, we can use an even wider range, because they’re going to give up a lot of hands.

Hands That Sway Towards a Call

Even if our opponent’s ranges are super-wide, we shouldn’t be squeezing with any two cards in a random attempt to take down pots. Throw your trash in the muck and stick to strong value hands and effective bluff combos.

Some hands show most of their profit in small multi-way pots – like medium suited connectors or low pocket pairs, for example. A hand like 5♣5♠ is not a great candidate for squeezing. It has no blockers and plays very poorly postflop. Flat calling on the button or in the blinds allows you to get in cheap and set mine. If you don’t hit a set, you check-fold with no harm done.

Perhaps surprisingly, there are also some pretty strong hands that you don’t want to squeeze with against opponents who could four-bet. For example, against some ranges, it’s better to call with hands like KQ and KJs. This keeps weaker hands in your opponent’s range, keeps the pot small, and prevents the villain from forcing you to fold to a four-bet shove.

Be careful to balance your ranges between value squeezes, bluff squeezes, and flat calling to get good pot odds and implied odds when the time is right.

Adjusting Range by Position

Remember to adjust your ranges depending not only on your own position, but also on the positions of the raiser and caller. This will drastically alter their ranges and therefore your ranges. Here’s an example of how to adjust:

• Versus early position raise and middle position call – The early position raiser has a tight range and even the middle position player could have a decent hand, as they still have to be wary of all of the players behind. You should be careful here and focus on squeezing for value only with premium hands.
• Versus middle position raise and late position call – The raiser’s range here should still be fairly tight, but the late position player could be calling to win the pot in position postflop and could be weak. You can add a few more value squeezes and selective bluffs against the right opponents.
• Versus cutoff raise and button call – An excellent situation for a squeeze. The cutoff and button should both have a wide range, allowing you to open up with three-bet squeezes as both value bets and bluffs.
• Versus button raise and small blind call – Arguably the best squeeze spot. The button should be stealing with an ultra-wide range of over 50 percent of hands and will be forced to fold out most of them to a three-bet. The small blind’s range is capped and they will have a lot of small pairs and medium suited hands that they didn’t want to three-bet themselves. Even if the small blind calls, you’ll have position in the big blind.

Opponents to Target with a Squeeze

The best players to squeeze, especially in a ‘bluff’ situation, are those that fold to a three-bet a lot. This means they have a wide open raising range, but rarely defend or four-bet when they are met with a reraise. They simply fold out their weaker hands.

In this case, we should open up our value squeeze range – including hands like 88-KJ+ – because those kind of opponents will call with weaker hands. Cut out the bluffs, value bet more aggressively.

Players at the lower stakes will rarely four-bet bluff. It’s an advanced and risky move to make. Unless you have a read, or you play at the medium to high stakes where four-betting is more common, you can often assume that an unknown player has a very strong hand.

Against a player who is aggressive and capable of four-bet bluffing, we can counter by tightening up our squeeze range and being prepared to call all in with our premiums. However, you shouldn’t fear these players and you can still bluff. Simply polarize your range to include hands that can call a four-bet and hands that can easily fold. Call with the rest of your playable hands to see a flop.

It’s worth pointing out that you don’t have to keep your ranges balanced against weak or unobservant opponents. Instead, you can use squeeze plays exploitative to either generate folds or gain max value.

Table Dynamics, Image, and Timing

Always consider your table image and the overall table dynamics when making a squeeze play, as this can affect how other players will react to the move.

Let’s start with table image. If you have been very tight recently, your squeeze is going to look very strong. A bluff in that moment could generate even more fold equity against observant players. Conversely, if you have a loose image or recently showed down a bluff, nobody is going to believe you when you squeeze. It’s the perfect time to pick up a value hand and play for stacks.

When it comes to overall table dynamics, take note of how aggressive, passive, tight or loose other players are and how this is impacting the action. In a general sense, is your squeeze likely to gain folds or get called? Use this knowledge to adjust your ranges.

In a poker tournament, you’ll be able to apply additional pressure during certain moments, such as around the bubble or before a pay jump. If you have a decent stack at these times, you can use it to put shorter stacks to the test.

Defending Against a Squeeze Play

By now, you should have a good idea of how to use squeeze plays effectively at the poker tables. But what about when you are faced with a squeeze? How can you combat this move?

The answer to this depends on factors such as your hand strength, your opponent’s ranges, stack sizes, positions and the overall dynamic. Basically, we’ll need to use everything we’ve already learned to decide how to react.

In a lot of situations, especially at the micro limits, a fold is the best option. If your hand is too weak to four-bet or even call, muck it and move on. Most players only three-bet or squeeze with strong hands, so it doesn’t affect our win rate significantly.

Against frequent squeezers, one possible defense is to tighten our opening range, because by doing so our range will mostly be made up of value hands that we should be more willing to play back with. We can regain our edge by playing for value or setting up a four-bet shove.

Try not to flat call the squeeze, as this will incentivize the caller to come along, which often leaves you out of position in a multiway pot. Instead, consider either four-betting or folding.

If an opponent raises, we cold-call, and another opponent squeezes … Well, in this case, we’ve already announced that our hand is not so strong (unless we are playing a monster in a tricky way). It’s still possible to defend if the pot odds allow, particularly if you have position, but be aware that your range is capped.

Here are some quickfire tips for defending against a squeeze play:

• Avoid flat calling squeezes with mediocre hands. Be prepared to fold.
• Be prepared to flat call or four-bet with your strong hands or premiums.
• Watch out for opponents who squeeze light and either tighten your opening range or set up 4-bet shoves.
• Only four-bet bluff against players who three-bet often. It pays to have a read, as most players at the low stakes will only four-bet premiums.

Conclusion

The squeeze play in poker is an advanced move that is very effective for generating folds preflop, isolating weak players, and getting paid off for value hands. To pull it off, you’ll need perfect timing and a constant awareness of table dynamics. The rewards for getting it right, though, are huge.

It’s tough to play back against squeeze plays, so you’ll want to avoid giving other players the opportunity, while taking it yourself when the time is right. Start by building your ranges using strong value hands and bluffs, then adjust and go from there.

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