I have many students saying to me that they think their game is too robotic and very ABC. Well good, you finally have a solid foundation to build off of.One of my favorite bluffs that is simple and easy to employ is the squeeze play. Too many beginner players misunderstand bluffing and often use it at the wrong times. So today we'll talk about how to add this play into your arsenal.
The squeeze play is a simple bluff but a very powerful weapon when used at the right times. You are effectively going to be making a huge bluff pre flop with a non premium hand, looking to take the pot there and then. It's success relies on a few key factors all coming together at the same time.
Firstly you are much more likely to pull off a squeeze play if your image at the table is that of a tight, solid player, one who doesn't get out of line. What you're looking for pre flop is for a loose/ aggressive player to make an opening raise and another player to flat call his raise. Then at this point you make your large re raise looking for both players to fold.
Why does it work?
Well the idea is that you don't expect the loose, initial raiser to have a very strong hand all too often because he plays so many hands and the caller probably also doesn't have a monster or he would of likely re raised himself. When you raise the loose player not only probably doesn't have much of a hand but he has the additional problem of worrying about the third player left to act behind him. But what we are concentrating on here is that the loose player raised with a marginal hand and is now getting far more action than he wanted. The caller will likely fold too as he has already told us that he doesn't have a monster by flat calling the initial raise.
You will want to make a large raise to 4 or 5 times the size of the initial raise and if you find either of these players flat call you then they probably have a high pocket pair or AK, AQs type hand so beware post flop.
If you get called
This play is mainly a pre flop play but that's not to say you can't pick it up post flop. In re raised (three bet) pots you'll only need to bet around half the pot to pick it up after the flop. far too many beginner players spazz out and mash the pot button to try and get their opponents to fold. The truth is that the pot is so inflated already that they will call or fold the same frequency to a half pot bet than they will to a full pot so save yourself the extra money on your bluffs and when you actually do have a hand, it will still be easy to get all the money in by the river, even with a half pot flop bet.
For more poker lessons check out the Tagpoker Poker School
Good Luck at the tables.
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