Most tournament players these days know the name Dan Harrington. He is a World Series of Poker main event champion and a World Poker Tour champion. He has made the final table of the WSOP main event three times. He has also written some of the best books on no limit Texas Holdem tournaments around, collectively entitled “Harrington on Holdem.” In one of these volumes, he refers to a very useful tournament concept known as the squeeze play.

How Does the Squeeze Play Work in No Limit Holdem?

The squeeze play operates based on a poker principle known as the Gap Concept. The move requires that your opponents be somewhat poker savvy. The idea is as follows. Player A makes a raise. Player B calls the raise. You, player C, look down at a marginal hand, but instead of calling or folding, you re-raise.

Here is where the Gap Concept comes in. The Gap Concept states that a player needs a stronger hand to call with than to raise with, since the initial raiser has fold equity (an additional way to win the hand when everyone folds) and only has to have a better than average hand. Each subsequent caller must have a hand good enough to challenge a raising hand.

The idea of the squeeze play is that the initial raiser will assume that Player B has a strong hand since he called, and that Player C (you) has an even stronger hand since he was able to raise the caller. Player A must also fear a re-raise from Player B, so Player A should conclude that he must fold unless he has aces or kings. Player B, who is often calling because his hand can withstand one raise but not two, will hopefully fold as well, conceding a nice pot to Player C who raised with a marginal hand.

How Often Does the Squeeze Play Work in No Limit Texas Holdem?

Conditions have to be right for this play to work. Both Player A and B must not be pot committed by their initial raises/calls. Both Player A and B must be strong enough players to understand the kind of strength your raise represents. And both Player A and B must have hands weaker than aces or kings, although in most cases if Player B had aces or kings he would have re-raised immediately rather than flat called. Live play of online poker doesn’t matter here.

Times to Use the Squeeze Play in No Limit Poker

The squeeze play should usually be reserved for tournaments, since your raise can put a player’s tournament life at risk. When you play poker in a cash game where a player can reach into his pocket for more chip money, players may be more likely to take a chance to try to win a big pot. You should also try to cultivate an image as a tight player before making this move. If you’ve been attacking pots on a regular basis, your squeeze raise is less likely to be respected.