Today I have a quick lesson about squeezing In tournaments. More exactly, squeezing on the Button.
But first, a quiz question. What’s our play here?
You can find the answer if you read the short analysis below (takes 30 seconds and it will help you more that way).
Let’s start with the squeezing range for our 40bb stack:
And here’s a second question for you to think about:
Why do we squeeze 99 and 88?
The main approach is to always consider what has the higher EV between calling and raising.
In theory, it makes sense to squeeze 99 and 88 and to go all in with TT. We don’t wanna squeeze it to 9 BBs here, just to go all in. If we re-raise this and CO or BU goes all-in we have to call it off. They might go all-in with a pocket pair because in these positions the ranges can be very loose.
Getting back to our quiz hand, in the range above, Q9s is a clear 3bet here, while Q8s is a fold. So we need to put things into perspective.
My approach
On low stakes and mid-stakes, I would be very aggressive in this spot and raise with very trashy hands.
👉 VS REGULARS?
Against regulars, in theory, that’s the range we should play (image above). In practice, I would go very aggressive here with all suited aces and some crappy suited Kx and Q8 hands.
So in the hand above, I 3bet with Q8s. Even on high stakes, I’m doing this because people are very unbalanced. Based on my database analysis, I know that people are over-folding in these spots.
You can be very aggressive, it’s something I teach in the Tournament Masterclass.
In this spot, I would deviate from theory if my hand has an Ace blocker or a bit of playability post-flop. This means I would play hands like Q8s, K8s, or even lower suited Aces.
👉VS RECREATIONALS?
If there’s a recreational, I re-raise JJ+, AQ+ maybe TT+ and that’s it. I will never have a bluff, it’s that easy.
One last tip is with small pairs we call, and if you have suited connectors like 65s or 76s, we only overcall. This is because they don’t have good blockers. They don’t block hands like K7s, Q7s, or A7s.
We want to have at least an ace or block many strong hands, or a king. With 76s, you’re only blocking more bluffs or hands our opponent might raise-fold with.
You get the point. CONSISTENCY.
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