Playing Blind/Squeezing
If your range for 3-betting preflop are AA/KK/QQ/AK and you are never squeezing in nlhe, you are losing a lot of potential profit. If you played an entire session at a full ring game without ever looking at your cards (and without your opponents knowing you are playing blind), you should still be able to turn a profit simply by utilizing light 3 betting and squeezing.
These are Daniel Negreanu’s words, not mine, and he is talking about levels as high as $25/50. I read this many years ago and had no idea what DN was talking about; However, I see now that his principles are definitely valid and can apply to any level in live play.
Examples of squeezing/3 betting:
I am playing a $2/5 full ring game. There are two limpers and a very inexperienced player makes it $15 to go. The hijack, cutoff, button, and small blind all call. It comes down to me and I see 8 5 offsuit in the big blind. While this isn’t a traditional squeeze play, it is a great spot to put in a sizeable raise. As long as the first limper in isn’t the type of person to limp/reraise with AA/KK/AK and there are no shortstacks, there is no hand whatsoever that anyone in the hand can call with.
Live games play extremely loose passive and 3 bets get a lot more credit than they should/do online, so the range of calling a big reraise from the big blind is something like AA/KK/QQ/AK, which, coincidentally, is about the range I’m repping. Raising to about $70 will take down the pot easily enough to show a profit.
3-betting light is pretty common in online 6-max games, but live games are still very far behind. A lot of people dissuade 3-betting because you will get called with a higher frequency since live games are so loose-passive, but this is all the more reason to stick in the occasional air 3-bet preflop.
Utilizing plays like this makes your sessions way less about running good/catching cards and more about making steady profit no matter your cards. It will also get you some action when you do have a hand.
Per suggestion of DN, I used to play totally blind online for short sessions just to see if I could pick up spots that would be excellent candidates for 3-betting/squeezing. I would just wait for a guy with a high VPIP/PFR to open, wait for a few smoothcallers, and pop it up and usually take it down. It’s an excellent practice tool and really helps your game, although you might lose money learning. Anyone that has problems 3-betting, I suggest trying this at a lower limit that you’re comfortable with; It will markedly improve your game in the long run.
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Comments
oh, i just noticed you’re only talking about blind squeezing. to people who are better, blind squeezing looks more legitimate, but to most donks position squeezing is much safer, easier and better.
high vpip/pfr opens in mid, CO or hijack calls, you squeeze on the button.
or non-squeeze:
high vpip/pfr opens in mid, you 3bet light in late.
I dont do this and I’m thinking I probably should. Do you not recommend it online? What are your thoughts on lower stake vs. higher stake players and the success rate?
Also, this is probably a stupid “oooh, yeah” question questions but what does VPIP/PFR stand for?
thanks.
VPIP means the % of hands that a person plays. Anything above like 25 is considered highish, anything above 40 is very high. PFR is the % that the person raises preflop into a pot. Generally players want to have a PFR of at least half their VPIP, so for example most professional multitablers run something like 20/15 or something like that, 20% of hands seen and out of that 20%, 15% raising. If you see someone with a vpip/pfr of like 35/20, they are a good candidate to squeeze/3bet.
This is primarily an online play, and while I don’t play online very much, I think it applies to live games. I’m not sure how much it applies to you kat, since you play mostly limit from what I understand.
Poker Kat, I would say at “our” levels the move rarely works, because low limit players protect their investments, see it as an opportunity to take a flop and score a big pot and finally have no idea what your doing.
Unless you hammer them with a large raise, (meaning an all in) a 6-10x BB raise is an open invitation to swipe some big money and my gut tells me 50% of the time they won’t fold……just my thoughts.
Thanks for the responses. I have a hard time online making any sort of move on players buying in for $10 or less. My best move seems to be picking up small pots and to wait until I have something good and trap them real well. Last week I had some great success in NLHE cash games but this week I’ve been reminded why I hate online. I’ll be back in live games and live tournaments this weekend..
Honestly, when is ok to go all-in the first hand of a SnG with 10-4? Just to win 135 chips… I am officially protesting playing anything online under a $10 buy in.
Where is the line online where the majority of players at a table actually play like poker players?
(sorry a bit of venting there)
It’s not $25 NL, that’s for sure-
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to longclaw J♥ A♠
dpickles31: folds
Stormamos: calls $0.25
blackmussels: calls $0.25
rocks41: calls $0.25
Nino_Brown21: folds
homesclice: calls $0.25
longclaw: raises $1.50 to $1.75
thats my pot: folds
Brett21: calls $1.50
Stormamos: calls $1.50
blackmussels: calls $1.50
rocks41: folds
homesclice: calls $1.50
I didn’t want all these callers but I got them. Thankfuly I had the button. I think you have to have a good feel for your table and go after the player who has been a little too active, especially when they have a caller behind them. Of course this only works if they know they need to worry about that.
You are misapplying the concept I was discussing. Someone has to raise and you 3bet, although your play here certainly isn’t bad.
The whole point of this play is pressure. Taking the example of what I assume you’re playing is a .10/.25 game, if someone open-raises for the standard of I’m guessing .75, if you pop it to $2.25, that is a very big raise that even weak loose players are going to be hesitant to call. $1.50 and $2.25 don’t really seem that different, but the idea of someone 4-betting behind to an even larger number and the size of the raise really add a lot of pressure when someone is thinking of calling. It seems risky, but that is the point and once you get comfortable with what spots to use it in, you will realize that the risk is actually quite minimal if used properly.
is dan refering to tournament or cash game?
i know that for low limit games squeezing is NOT overused. it’s hardly ever used at all. same goes for 3betting lightly.
yes, i whole heartedly agree that people should practice 3-betting light, not only for the immediate value of it, but for the meta game value of later on getting paid off with your real hands.
it must be harder to do in full ring since people are raising with better cards and won’t give up their hand, but in 6 max it’s a must.
a few piece of advice from someone who lost a lot at first learning how to do this.
1. you do not always have to cbet. it’s okay to give up on a bad flop. you get a lot of your value preflop and future value from your image.
2. when you do cbet, you do not have to bet as much on the flop compared to a normal raised pot. i would bet 1/4 less than normal. so if you normal bet 3/4ths pot on a certain texture a little over 1/2 is okay. if you bet pot, than 3/4ths is okay.
3. i will not squeeze lightly in the blinds if there was an open and a call by 2 calling stations, but if there was a limp and a call, a light squeeze is still possible.