Squeezing with AK?

I found that squeezing with AK from the blinds is a useless play at 2NL Zoom. It costs me more than it earns. For example:

poker stars, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

BTN: $3.20 (160 bb)
SB: $1.89 (94.5 bb)
Hero (BB): $4.93 (246.5 bb)
UTG: $3.29 (164.5 bb)
MP: $1.62 (81 bb)
CO: $1.66 (83 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A K
UTG raises to $0.06, MP calls $0.06, CO folds, BTN calls $0.06, SB folds, Hero raises to $0.24, UTG calls $0.18, MP folds, BTN calls $0.18

Flop: ($0.79) 8 5 4 (3 players)
Hero ???

I feel like I'm still getting called by medium PPs and when the flop comes ragged I have nothing to do, epecially in a multiway pot. Feeling like I'm wasting money 66% of the time when I miss.

Squeezing at 2nl, whether zoom or not, is likely to be FPS. Think about the appropriate conditions to make this play. Isn't one of them that the other players are capable of folding a decent portion of the time? How well does this apply at 2nl?

Also, some might question whether 3betting a premium hand constitutes squeezing.

Were you not afraid of UTG player?

Anyway, why squeeze if you know many will call?

I believe its hard to isolate on that stake.

Yeah cbet is a waste of money here. Squeezing OOP is not great at 2NL (10NL is minimum for this I think).

LD1977 said:

Yeah cbet is a waste of money here. Squeezing OOP is not great at 2NL (10NL is minimum for this I think).

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+1. I moved up to 10nl a short time ago. Squeezing works quite well at 10.

At 5 and 2 squeezing or 3 betting OOP just really wasn't profitable at all. More people play tighter at 10, so people are stealing more from CO and BTN with a 3xBB raise and generally have more positional sense and play much wider in those late positions. Making squeezing/ light 3bets from the blinds profitable.

Ok, just what I thought

What would be my standard play here? Call and fold the flop if missed?

SwiftHax said:

Feeling like I'm wasting money 66% of the time when I miss.

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But you win a much bigger pot when you hit. And you get heads up more often. 3-betting AK for value is a standard thing here unless the raiser is one of those 60/1 types.

This is a standard spot. Kinda sucks that you didn't get heads up, but whatever. I still c-bet this board unless I have stats saying otherwise. You can turn a lot of equity.

Were always raising PF with AK no matter what position, because we dominate so many hands and can get good value out of AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ, QJ etc. It is annoying when we miss though having committed a fair bit pre but just need to be disciplined.

Don't c-bet this OOP multiway, unless you have stats suggesting these players have fold equity. If its checked around to us then maybe we can stab if we were IP. The amount of trash people call with at the micros, this flop could have hit them hard, flush draw too. Check fold here im afraid

akaRobbo said:

Were always raising PF with AK no matter what position, because we dominate so many hands and can get good value out of AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ, QJ etc. It is annoying when we miss though having committed a fair bit pre but just need to be disciplined.

Don't c-bet this OOP multiway, unless you have stats suggesting these players have fold equity. If its checked around to us then maybe we can stab if we were IP. The amount of trash people call with at the micros, this flop could have hit them hard, flush draw too. Check fold here im afraid

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Ok, thanks I lost quite a sum in these sitautions.

to much people call and this board has many draws options so big chance You will get called by another I wont bluffing here check here and if another club go on turn than bet

I agree i would play this hand very passively at 2nl zoom as 3bet OOP is just going to bloat the pot and we are going to miss flop a pretty decent number of time. What i would do is just call pre flop and try to chase a pair, two pair, one card flush stuff like that but only if we get decent price. If there is a 3 bet post flop we fold this as we do not get a good price anymore. 2nl zoom is a fishtank.

suby_rafael said:

I agree i would play this hand very passively at 2nl zoom as 3bet OOP is just going to bloat the pot and we are going to miss flop a pretty decent number of time. What i would do is just call pre flop and try to chase a pair, two pair, one card flush stuff like that but only if we get decent price. If there is a 3 bet post flop we fold this as we do not get a good price anymore. 2nl zoom is a fishtank.

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When are you ever getting the right price to go for backdoor flushes? Especially OOP.

I feel like I should take a passive route as well. If I flop something, I'll get some value out of dominated hands.

are people really saying we should flat AK here

really

SwiftHax said:

I found that squeezing with AK from the blinds is a useless play at 2NL Zoom. It costs me more than it earns. For example:

Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

BTN: $3.20 (160 bb)
SB: $1.89 (94.5 bb)
Hero (BB): $4.93 (246.5 bb)
UTG: $3.29 (164.5 bb)
MP: $1.62 (81 bb)
CO: $1.66 (83 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A

K

UTG raises to $0.06, MP calls $0.06, CO folds, BTN calls $0.06, SB folds, Hero raises to $0.24, UTG calls $0.18, MP folds, BTN calls $0.18

Flop: ($0.79) 8

5

4

(3 players)
Hero ???

I feel like I'm still getting called by medium PPs and when the flop comes ragged I have nothing to do, epecially in a multiway pot. Feeling like I'm wasting money 66% of the time when I miss.

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Hi Man !

I would not recommend use of any squeeze or something else on such low limits as you be called but too many players > which results to that some of the hit eventually something and you will loose more than win.

Play it Tight and Aggressive and you should be OK

Good Luck @TAbles !

OMGITSOVER9K said:

are people really saying we should flat AK here

really

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I have been seeing a lot of people on this forum advocating this kind of move.

I don't get it and I wish I could convince people that AK should be raised and should be treated like a premium hand because IT IS.

Its like reading forum posts from 2005.

Ubercroz said:

I have been seeing a lot of people on this forum advocating this kind of move.

I don't get it and I wish I could convince people that AK should be raised and should be treated like a premium hand because IT IS.

Its like reading forum posts from 2005.

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I cannot belive it eather.
It is like we are being invaded by passive fish.
Cmon ppl. 3-bet with AK and c-bet HU no matter what the board is, regardless of position. 1/3 times hit it is more than enough to make profit. You just need to adjust your betsize when you hit and when you miss because they will not notice.
If it is a multiway pot than you can shutdown and check flop when you miss.

Yeah at this limit as lot of others said you should not raise because you can get a lot of callers and that CB is waste of money, so probably check/fold here is the correct play.

it's not a bluff squeeze people. Just 3bet it and get over it on the flop if you miss (ie don't cbet, your fold equity is non-existent) . Otherwise go nuts and GII. 2NL is not rocket science

It seems clear some people don't understand what a squeeze is. It's a 3bet after a bet and one or more calls with a hand that isn't good enough to 3bet for value;. i.e. you're over-repping your hand. When you 3bet in this situation with a premium hand, you're not over-repping it, which means you're not squeezing. You're simply betting for value.

In the original hand, AK is a premium holding. It's 2nl. KISS. 3bet for value.

it is not easy to play without position. UTG to raise often have something.

kworm2013 said:

it is not easy to play without position. UTG to raise often have something.

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Not if we have ridiculous straight up card value and on top of that we create a tiny SPR on the flop. The smaller the SPR, the less position matters.

First of all, given the pot was raised and two called, I would have at least made it a 15BB 3bet.

Now, assuming everyone here is a fish, if everyone called we have a pot size of 1.20

With 1.7 left in your stack (SPR 1.33) , it's very easy decision on the flop. Give up completely if you miss, jam the nutflush draw with two overs, or ....

if you hit your A or K....you can do one of two things - if there's a massive agrofish yet to act, you may opt to let them spaz their shit out and then call. Other wise, GII. When in doubt about their aggression, just donk GII.

EDIT: I can hardly find any positionally aware players at 2NL. UTG raise means little in most cases in my experience

yup i agree with the others.With AK preflop you should do three bet for its value.Or in this case UTG already raised three bet maybe you should not reraise cause its already a three bet.Wait and see post flop and just bail out if you dont hit anything.By the way anything can happen post flop and you should be more aware.But then again its always depend on who you are playing with a donk a shark or the super-tight guys.

joe777 said:

yup i agree with the others.With AK preflop you should do three bet for its value.Or in this case UTG already raised three bet maybe you should not reraise cause its already a three bet.Wait and see post flop and just bail out if you dont hit anything.By the way anything can happen post flop and you should be more aware.But then again its always depend on who you are playing with a donk a shark or the super-tight guys.

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Errr you might wanna read up on what's a 3bet... It's not the same as a raise to 3BB. 3bet is a fancy word for a preflop reraise

original part time;
The squeeze play is rampant in todays mid to high stakes No Limit cash games. I sat in a game the other day and no less than 80% of the raised pots were squeezed. Today’s multi-tablers are so focused on volume and churning out a higher win rate that a squeeze play has almost become a default response to any raise/called pot regardless of his or her holdings.This can get particularly detrimental if you’re a loose/aggressive player like me and tend to flat with an abundance of hands in late position (such as suited connectors and small pocket pairs trying to play a lot of pots in position). Instead of being able to play in position in a single raised pot you’re now forced to fold marginal holdings because of the fear of getting squeezed.
but i think that sqeze whit this hands is a another push

gattusoleon said:

original part time;
The squeeze play is rampant in todays mid to high stakes No Limit cash games. I sat in a game the other day and no less than 80% of the raised pots were squeezed. Today’s multi-tablers are so focused on volume and churning out a higher win rate that a squeeze play has almost become a default response to any raise/called pot regardless of his or her holdings.This can get particularly detrimental if you’re a loose/aggressive player like me and tend to flat with an abundance of hands in late position (such as suited connectors and small pocket pairs trying to play a lot of pots in position). Instead of being able to play in position in a single raised pot you’re now forced to fold marginal holdings because of the fear of getting squeezed.
but i think that sqeze whit this hands is a another push

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Flat less and 3bet more in position, problem solved


Also if the squeeze is as rampant in the games you play as you say, then can't you exploit it by flatting opens with premium hands to trap x percentage of the time?