The squeeze play is one of the most effective moves in tournament poker. It can be an effective way to build your chip stack and see you progress to an in the money finish in poker tournaments. However because the squeeze play sees you attempting to win a pot whilst holding poor cards you have to know when the time is right to attempt such a move.

Essentially the squeeze play is a type of bluff. You are seeking to represent to your opponents that you have a monster hand and also trying to force them off their hand as a result after they have already committed their chips to the pot.

When seeking to steal the blind you are trying to take down the pot without a fight from your opponents. You want them to fold instantly to your bet before the flop. The best time to try this is when you have late position and are last, or one of the last, to act. If when it is your turn and there are no raisers in front of you it could be a good time to attempt a blind steal by throwing out a good sized raise.

It goes something like this. You are in late table position. A player in front of you has opened with a raise and one other player has called that raise. Now it is your turn to act but you have a poor hand. Undaunted, you go over the top with a big re-raise representing a hand with massive strength. They both folds and you pick up the pot because you have squeezed them out of it. Hence the squeeze play.

It is clearly a risky move to try and execute so it is important that you only try to pull it off when you have a good hand. It could also backfire if you attempt it when you have a weaker hand and your opponents call you. On the other hand, you wouldn’t want to try it with a weak hand.

An opponents basic Egp88 strategy is not going to be much affected by what tactics you try to use against them. They are much more likely to pick up on a tell such as that you are preparing a good hand and are less likely to fold in the face of your own squeeze play.

However it’s important to always deliver the squeeze play in an authentic manner. For instance if you try to squeeze with a hand like 8s and your opponent already has x, the likelihood that a good hand will be dealt later on is much higher. You need to deliver the squeeze play feeling as though it is the real thing.

Find a spot where you will be heads up with your opponent and remember to keep them in the game. If you are in the blind and everyone folds in front of you, the only way to win the tournament is to pick up blinds whenever you can. However if you are respected and become a regular middle to late raiser it is likely it will not work against the right opponents. Try it against the right target and the back door will be far wider and your squeeze play will have more success.

Warning – don’t squeeze and try to push your opponents off their hand as they towel off. If you get re-raised after folding the plan it is too late for the squeeze play to have any effect.