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Squeeze Those Jacks
2nd hand of home game last night in UTG +1. Stacks are all even at 100bb. I wake up with JJ and raise 5x. I raise big here because I have found that over the last few weeks there have been some new players with reckless abandon and getting it in with J10 suited and up. Also, I have been spending several months in the free bar poker and freeroll worlds, and it has tainted me. Player in mp calls. Sb reraises to 20bb. I expire my time and decide to 4 bet jam. Both players insta call. MP has 33. SB has AA. MP flops a set and we both go to the rail.
In retrospect, I should have known that JJ was marginal in early position with a call and reraise behind. I am just not sure if post flop (3c5c9d) I could’ve gotten away either.
Question is: how do you make the case for marrying yourself to a hand of this value and making a squeeze play with it? Let’s talk squeezing.
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6 Replies
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I would not describe you jamming here a squeeze play. The action before your jam is call + 3-bet. In order to be a squeeze play the order should be the opposite, so that the 3-better is squeezed between you and a caller. That would increase your fold equity.
When the SB 3-bets an UTG+1 raise followed by a call he should have a strong range. Unless he decides to squeeze you when the MP only calls (the action before the SB is your raise + a call, i.e correct order for a squeeze).
Remember that the essential idea behind a squeeze play is that you put pressure on a raiser by reraising him when he has to worry about both your reraise and a caller yet to act.
Having said that, jamming jacks for value might be good if you have reason to believe that your opponents are calling way too wide. In normal circumstances though jacks are not strong enough as a value jam and there are other hands that you can turn into bluffs.
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Thanks!
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Great analysis here. If you are up against thinking players, the SB re-raise over your UTG+1 open should be really strong as they should be giving you a strong range; and with hands like TT-66, AK, AQ, they should likely want to see a flop given the positions. Obviously they could be wider, especially if they thing you are opening quite wide. The problem I see with the jam is now you have forced them to play optimally; they call you with AA, KK, and maybe AK, QQ, but then fold hands you don’t want to fold like TT, 99, 88, etc. Interesting; tough way to go out early.
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Using a larger preflop raise to target players that call too wide is reasonable. But when using a 5x sizing, I would prefer either to have a stronger hand (QQ+) from early position or only do this in later position (HJ or later) holding JJ.
The 3bet squeeze from SB is really strong. Given your raise size (5x), position (UTG+1), stack depth (100BB), and a caller, if SB is a reasonable player you can expect them to have a strong hand to raise here. Facing this strong of a range, I prefer a call over a jam.
Given the flop, you may be getting in stacks anyway, but flat-calling allows you to get value from any weaker hands that SB may continue firing with.
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I figured that would be the general response. Thanks for your input. Much appreciated. What would you classify as a squeeze play.
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Here’s how it’s defined in the book “Modern Poker Theory”.
Squeeze: 3-betting after someone raised and someone else called.
So the SB play of 3-betting was a squeeze. You raised, MP called, and then SB 3-bet.
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