Hands

Inducing a Squeeze
(Villains flaw)

(Difficulty rating)

(Heros exploit)

After the big games in NYC break, big money comes back concentrated in
the pockets of a couple of lucky guys. This weeks winners love to splash
around with their new money. They favour aggressive play and often
squeeze pre-flop.
A squeeze is started when one player opens then one or more players
call. The squeezer then three-bets, trying to push the other players out of
the pot. The play is effective because it forces the original raiser to a
decision with action yet to be closed. The players in the middle also face a
three-bet out of position. The middle player showed weakness by not
raising when he first had the opportunity. He is now facing a three-bet out
of position. All of this combined makes each player want to fold.
Squeezers put pressure on us when we open. They place pressure on us
when we cold call opens. Unfortunately, squeezers can make a session
unpleasant, and if we approach them incorrectly, it can cost us. How can we
combat this pre-flop aggression?
The squeezers rightly believe that we will often fold, so they exploit
that by squeezing. Aggressive squeezing, like any predictable action, is
exploitable. Whenever you can predict what someone will do before they
do it, there is a counter measure. Our first counter measure is to give them
fewer chances to squeeze us. The second is to trap them by cold calling
raises with big hands.
$1-$2
Image:
NJ
Underground
UTG
Villain

Action:

Hand:

Starting
Stack:

$12/???

$250

Hijack

Hero

Call

$350

Button

Squeezer

$55

Covers

Flatting Queens is not our default, but in this situation it sets the bait
for our aggressive squeezer. If the squeezer did not raise, we would have
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Red Chip Poker: Late Position

taken Queens in position versus the original raiser. Keep in mind that, on
occasion, we may pick up callers behind us or in the blinds. If this occurs,
then post-flop we are playing an underrepresented hand multi-way, which is
not terrible.
When our squeezer does bite, we can hit a home run. However, we
must have a plan in place for different potential scenarios.
UTG flat calls the squeeze. Hero raises for value against both.
We are likely ahead of both opponents ranges and should raise for
value. We flatted UTGs open, knowing that a light squeeze could come in;
it came. When UTG just calls, he likely no longer has KK/AA. Our hand
should be best. Knowing this, we want to put more money in the pot.
UTG four-bets the squeeze. Hero is likely folding.
In a situation where UTG four-bets, we have to ask ourselves if UTGs
four-bet range includes enough hands that QQ performs well against. In
most cases, UTG will have QQ+/AK. This is a range that QQ doesnt
perform well against, and our best option is to fold. At the lower levels, do
not confuse yourself into thinking that UTG is four-betting light because he
knows that we have a chronic squeezer on our hands. We would be
assigning our opponents too much credit for multi-level thinking. The vast
majority of the time it is exactly what it looks like. Just fold.
UTG folds. Hero four-bets or flat calls it depends.
When UTG folds, our plan has come to fruition. In this case, it is
unclear what the correct move is. It depends on the kind of player the
Villain is. We believe that we are ahead of his range, so we want more
money in the pot.
If we assume our opponents range is bluff heavy and that he will rarely
continue versus a four-bet, then calling is our best option. The flop will
come, and he will have the opportunity to make more mistakes post-flop.
However, if we assume our opponent will make more mistakes versus a
raise, then four-betting is our best option. We expect him to make a mistake
in one of two different formats. First, our opponent may overvalue the
strength of a hand such a JJ/AQ and continue by calling or shoving. Or,
our opponent may turn his bluff hands into a five-bet shove with hands
such as AX/KXs, assuming he has enough fold equity.

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Hands

$1-$2
Image:
NJ
Underground
UTG
Villain

Action:

Hand:

Starting
Stack:

$12/Fold

$250

Hijack

Hero

Call/$115

$350

Button

Squeezer

$55/Call

Covers

In this case, Hero raised. The sizing of the raise is crucial since we need
our opponent to make mistakes against it. We need the size to allow our
opponent to call wide, and it also creates a simple one SPR pot post-flop if
he does call. At the same time, we want to give the perception that we
would be able to fold if our opponent were to five-bet all-in. The size we
chose here accomplishes all of our goals.
Main Pot: $245
Hero

$90

Starting
Stack:
$235

Villain

???

Covers

(Hijack)

(Button)

Range:

Given the one SPR pot, we are in automatic stack off mode, but we
also want to increase the mistake propensity of our opponent. In this
instance, betting smaller accomplishes our goal. We can expect our
opponent to stack off with any Jack, Ten, or big draw whether we shove or
bet smaller. However, if by betting smaller we induce a few extra calls/ships
with hands such as 99 or Ax, then we make extra money in the long run.
At times, we will run into hands like JJ or 10x and lose our stack.
However, keep in mind that our opponent is making the greater error by
getting involved in a small SPR with these hands. Over the long haul, we
will be making a lot of money off our opponent in these situations.

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Red Chip Poker: Late Position

Main Pot: $245

Hero

$90/Call

Starting
Stack:
$235

Villain

Shove

Covers

(Hijack)

(Button)

Range:

The turn and river bring the Villain nothing. We win.

With some good planning and exploiting of our opponents tendencies
we were able to win a big pot. Going forward, we want to develop plans for
our hands and remove ourselves from the I want to win it right there
mentality. In time, this will make us more dynamic and we will win bigger
pots where previously we would not.
Did we get lucky to get a safe flop like this? Not really, sixty percent of
the time QQ will be an overpair or better. What about when the flop brings
an Ace or a King? We made this pot big pre-flop so our decisions would be
easy on the flop. Just ship it in with your Queens since you are check-calling
anyway. You cannot soul read the Villain to know if that Ace hit Villain or
not. When you check, Villains do not need to bluff very often for checkfolding to be wrong.

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