No Mercy Monday: The Squeeze Play

In this strategy series, CoinPoker’s Chief Community Manager and pro poker player Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier walks you through the basics of the game. Each No Mercy Monday comes with expert advice on how to play,  and it all starts with starting hands.

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This week we will continue covering the art of bluffing this week, you can catch up by checking out our posts on telling a story that makes sense and how to steal from a stealer. Now that you’re caught up, we can start going over some classic bluffs.

First on the list is the squeeze play.

The Squeeze Play 

Last week we looked at a classic, common and easy bluff to make that I like to call “stealing from the stealer”. We will this week examine a similar bluff, which also works best when you are sitting in late position or in the blinds. It is a standard move in poker, and it is called “the squeeze play”. 

This opportunity for making this bluff will present itself in the following scenario:

A loose player raises pre-flop, and another player calls the raise before it is up to you to act. You will have here an opportunity at 3-betting this pot, therefore squeezing the calling player.

Most of the time the first raising player will not be in a situation to call your raise, as he is considered a loose player with a wide and weak selection of starting hands. In addition to this being unlikely, as he only called the first raise, there is still this another player behind him who could 4-bet this pot. 

Chances are that he will fold to your raise, allowing you to easily win a decent pot.”

As for this player who originally called the first raise, and who is now facing this squeeze play, he showed some weakness by only calling instead of 3-betting the first raise. Therefore, chances are that he will fold to your raise, allowing you to easily win a decent pot. 

Remember that the squeeze play works best when there are fewer players remaining after you. Also, it is a customary play in poker, and therefore you can identify such situations and apply the “steal from the stealer” theory to 4-bet such squeeze plays and bluff your way out of the hand.

Don’t forget to join me twice a week in the Hubble Bubble tournaments to practice your skills and try to win my 5000 CHP bounty! 

– Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier