The squeeze play is a poker term that rolls off your tongue like an eel off a sheet of ice, but what does this wonderful phrase actually mean? Let us explain by giving you an example.
You are playing in a tournament and all three players in the following hand have 40BB stacks.
The blinds are 50/100 and the player in the cut-off raises to 300, the button calls, the small blind folds and you have the decision to make out of the big blind holding [5s] [5d]. If you decide to rise then the action is known as a squeeze play.
The effectiveness comes from the fact that the original raiser still has the button behind him when he is pondering his decision, and the button has shown weakness by flatting the cut-off in the first place; not to mention that your raise over two players signifies strength.
In recent times, the squeeze play has undergone a metamorphosis.
The squeeze play holding the pocket fives is an aggressive play. It is utilized because there is a high probability that the play will be successful, and you can take down a decent sized pot without seeing a flop.
If you face a four-bet you can easily lay your hand down, and raising takes away the difficult task of trying to play pocket fives, out of position, in a three-way flop.
However, more and more players in the Satellites for WSOP 2012 are deciding to just smooth call with hands such as pocket fives, in this spot, because they realise that they have great post-flop value in set mining.
However, this does not mean they do not squeeze; on the contrary, instead they squeeze with a polarised range of trash and great hands.
