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 poker 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, generally seeking to win 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.
Bear in mind that you are seeking a very specific hand to make your move, such as a set. It is best to try and limp in and accept a free card if you have a good hand, such as two pairs or three of a kind.
The reason you want to try and get two cards for your set is because if you have a set and the flop comes and its three, four or five, you will win more money than you will lose. The odds of your two cards hitting are better than what you will win. Although your intention is to challenge the raiser you actually want to avoid him taking the pot so you can make it easier for yourself to win the pot later on.
Yet another reason to try for a blind steal with your chosen hand is that the less opposition that sees the flop the more of an advantage you have. The more people that see the flop the less of an advantage you have.
There are a few opponents that will call your blind steal no matter what. These are the so called committe types. I really doubt that they are paying much attention when they are sitting at the table. In other words, they are playing below the radar. In a sense they are very easy to take advantage of.
Lets say you have a half decent hand and raise 2.5 times the blind on the first hand. There is a lot of action and a lot of hands will fold. In this case there is no need to worry about a re-raise from the player after they call your raise. They are normally looking for a reason to fold. They are easier to take advantage of than other players.
The other type of player that will call a blind steal is the so called spotting rail. Even though they can be very tricky to play against they can be very vulnerable when facing an aggressive player that is Nashville bound. The problem with rail is that even when you spot a possible steal many of these players will come over the top of you. The reason this is a problem is because you may be creating a very expensive pot.
The answer to the problem of being dominated by a bigger hand is to pick your 7meter more carefully. If you are at an early table position and no one has raised in front of you it is normally a sound strategic play to remain in that position. A lot of players tend to keep raising in early position with their hands when they have a strong hand, like two face cards, when in reality you should fold.
Now, if you do have a hand of medium strength it is sometimes a sound strategy to raise in early position. In such cases it is best to control the pot size via a fine control raise. A lot of players tend to call your raise, which leaves you with a significant amount of chips in the pot. Of course some will call just to see a flop. In any case, a successful raise in early position is the best possible option.
It is important to follow your opponents. By identifying the types of opponents you will be up against you can adjust your game and strategy.
When you have a high pair like AK you should raise most times, especially from the button. The reason being, that you will probably get a call. If an ace or king comes on the flop you are a good 80% to probably win the hand. The other 20% is made out of luck. If there is a high card like a ten or even a queen on the flop you should consider throwing in the odd card or two to stack the odds more in your favor.
The bottom line is you should play poker Texas Hold em certain ways. Some of these ways are better than others and some of they are bad.