

The Ultimate Guide to Preflop Multiway Pots (And

Squeezing)

Multiway pots are extremely complex.

As more players enter the pot, the size of the game-tree increases. This makes
nding the best play a more complicated task than it usually is. Many players,
including top pros, frequently make mistakes multiway pots.

We’ll break down 8 multiway pot examples in this article. These examples help
demonstrate the common mistakes players make in multiway pots, and how to
avoid them.

Here we go.

Part 1: Pre op – Deciding When to Enter a Multiway

Pot
The old-school approach to multiway pots was to enter with many speculative hands
hoping to win big when you hit. This might work against a table full of weaker
players, but you are practically setting your chips on re against strong, aggressive
opposition.
Whenever we call a pre-flop raise, we cap our range because we will not have the
strongest hands that would otherwise 3-bet the raiser — similar to how when

weaker players open-limp their weaker holdings.

Our capped range makes us vulnerable to squeezes by players left to act behind us.
Therefore, as more players call the pre- op raise, the greater incentive there is for a
player acting behind to squeeze. This is especially true if the over-callers’ ranges are
weak.

As more players enter the pot, your decrease in equity outweighs the improved
pot odds.

The most common pre op mistake in multiway situations is entering the pot with
too wide of a range. Let’s look at some examples.

(Note: Learn and master the methods behind world class poker players’ successes
in The Lab, an extensive poker training course developed and updated monthly by
Doug Polk and Ryan Fee. Click here or below to learn more!)

Example 1.1
100NL, 100BB e ective

Hero is on the BTN

 HJ opens to 2.25BB. CO calls. Hero…

We need to call 2.25BB to play for a pot size of 8.25BB assuming the blinds fold. That
means the price we’re paying is 27.27%.

Let’s look at our equity assuming the ranges from The Upswing Lab. The HJ player
opens with:

HJ opening range as recommended by The Upswing

Lab
(22+,A2s+,K6s+,Q8s+,J8s+,T8s+,97s+,86s+,75s+,64s+,54s,ATo+,KTo+,QTo+,JTo)

And the CO calls with:

 

CO calling range vs HJ open from The Upswing Lab (JJ-

44,AQs-ATs,KTs+,QTs+,JTs,T9s,98s,87s,AQo)

Now, let’s take a look at all hands that might have enough equity to continue from
the BTN. (I’m using Power-Equilab for this part.)
 

This is just raw equity, without considering how these hands might play post- op.
This also doesn’t factor in the threat of squeezes or calls from the blinds.

For simplicity’s sake, we will assume that the BB will at 100% of hands. This extra
caller improves our pot odds to 23.68%. Let’s see which hands are above this slightly
higher equity threshold.
 

Even with the BB atting 100% of hands, our equity drops faster than our pot odds
improve, which causes our potential continue range to shrink. This range shrinks
even further when we factor in the blinds ability to squeeze or call with a tighter
range.

Let’s assume that the blinds will squeeze a combined 15% of the time to see how
our potential calling range changes. (For what it’s worth, stronger blinds will squeeze
more often.)

If the blinds squeeze 15% of the time, we call 2.25BB to win a pot of 85%*8.25BB =
7.013BB, making our e ective pot odds 32.09% when calling with a marginal holding.
 

As you can see, the threat of a squeeze — or even call — from the blinds drastically
decreases the size of our potential continue range.

Now, let’s move on to speci c hand types and their playability in multiway pots.

How Do Multiway Pots Impact a Hand’s Playability?

Hands like KQo or AJo play poorly in multiway pots. These hands’ playability
stems from making good top pair hands, whose absolute strength is much higher in
heads-up pots than multiway pots.

In multiway pots, value-betting top pair hands on the op will force too many worse
hands to fold and too many better hands to continue by the time we reach the river.
As a result, top pair hands will often be best used as blu -catchers on earlier streets

These hands are di cult to play in multiway pots due to their reverse implied odds.
It’s relatively likely that one of our opponents has a set or better top pair, and when
we have a pair ourselves we will be obligated to call one or more streets in the hope
that Villain is blu ng.
KTs and QJs are a bit better, but have many of the same problems because most of
their equity comes from making good top pair hands. They have added playability

due to their ush potential, but the threat of Ace-high ushes looms larger-than-
usual in multiway pots.

Pocket pairs don’t have the issues highlighted above. When we hit a set with a
pocket pair we can comfortably value-bet multiple streets to try to win a big pot,
even multiway.

The main drawback with pocket pairs is that their showdown value drops quickly as
more players enter the pot. This prevents the weaker pairs from being able to
withstand multiple streets of betting, and limits how often the stronger pairs can
value-bet. The weakest pairs also su er from reverse implied odds of set-over-set
when the pot goes multiway.

When deciding what hands to squeeze, we should choose hands that play better
in heads-up 3bet pots. This allows us to turn some hands that might not be
profitable calls into profitable squeezes.

A hand like AQo will play poorly in the multiway pot, but in a heads-up 3-bet pot it
will retain much of its equity with less reverse implied odds. That combined with
some added fold equity makes AQo a good candidate for a blu squeeze.

We should also look for some blu s that will play well in a multiway 3-bet pot.
Against tight continuing ranges from two (or more) opponents, the relative strength
of the hands in our range changes.

Let’s look at an example: what are the top 3% of pre- op hands when facing one
player with AKo and another with QQ?
 

From this we see that the hands 76s, 65s and 54s are stronger than AKs when facing
these ranges.

Suited connectors play well multiway with increased ability to make straights and
ushes, and no reverse implied odds when making a pair. These hands can be
squeezed sparingly to balance out the rest of your squeeze range and improve your
playability in a multiway 3-bet pots.

With all of this in mind, let’s build a continuing range for Hero:
 

Finally, back to the hand

Hero looks at 6♥5♥ and squeezes to 10.5BB. Everyone folds.

Example 1.2
100NL, 100BB e ective

Hero is in the BB

HJ opens to 2.25BB. CO calls. 2 folds. Hero…

Creating a BB continuing range is relatively simple because there is no risk of getting

squeezed behind us. We can use this fact to squeeze aggressively.
The price that we’re paying in the BB is 1.25BB to win 7.25BB or 17.24% pot odds. We
nd that almost any two cards have su cient equity:


However, since we’re out-of-position (OOP) against both players we will be at an

informational disadvantage for the entire hand. We can’t realistically make a pro t
playing all of these highlighted hands.

When OOP with a capped pre-flop range in a multiway pot, we should look to
play hands that have good implied odds and little reverse-implied odds. This
means playing more hands that can make straights and ushes and avoiding hands
that make marginal top pairs.

Hands like 96s or 52s can’t make strong top pair hands, but have good potential to
make straights and ushes. Our one-pair hands are unlikely to be dominated,
meaning that our outs to two pair and trips will be reasonably clean. We still have to
be cautious when we make a ush with these hands.
We can be quite aggressive with our squeezes because the only player in the pot
with an uncapped range is the HJ opener. The BTN will likely not have hands strong

enough to 4-bet us if we squeeze as these hands will have 3-bet for value vs a HJ
open.

On the other hand, since both players have position on us, they are incentivized to
call and see a op. This makes a 3-player 3-bet pot more likely, so we need to add
hands to our squeeze range with suitable playability.

With all of this in mind, let’s build a continuing range for Hero:

Hero looks at T♠9♠ and squeezes to 11BB. CO raises all-in to 100BB. Everyone
folds.

Example 1.3
 p
100NL, 100BB e ective

Folds to HJ who opens to 2.25BB, CO calls, folds, SB/Hero?

The SB is a tougher position than the BB for a few reasons:

We have less invested, thus worse pot odds

We are OOP against both players (and the BB if they overcall)
The BB still has the chance to squeeze

For this reason, we should look to play hands that have good OOP playability, as well
as blockers to the strongest holdings in the remaining player’s ranges (including BB).

We have to call 1.75BB to win 7.75BB — pot odds of 22.58% — if the BB folds. If the
BB overcalls or squeezes, our e ective pot odds will be worse. Assuming BB
squeezes 10% of the time, our e ective pot odds are 25.09%. Let’s look at our equity
when considering a call:
When calling, we should avoid hands that will play poorly in multiway pots. We will
often be OOP against two or three players, which means that the playability of

disconnected and o -suit hands drops tremendously. We will not be able to realize
enough of our equity, and there are reverse implied odds when making a good but
vulnerable hand like top pair.

When thinking about which hands we should squeeze, we should look to play hands
that can op well, as well as use a few hands that have good playability in a
multiway 3-bet pot. When squeezing from the SB, we need to use a large size to
force more pre- op folds and decrease the positional advantage of the other
players.

Squeezing a greater proportion of our range — instead of calling — allows us to blow

the BB o their equity, and prevent them from squeezing aggressively.
 Hero looks at A♥7♥ and raises to 11BB. Everyone folds.

(Note: If you’re serious about improving your cash game and tournament skills,
check out The Upswing Lab. Click here to learn more about this poker training course
developed by Doug Polk & Ryan Fee.)

Example 1.4
When the pot odds are bad, squeeze a greater proportion of your range. For
example:

Let’s take a look at what happens to our pre- op over-calling range when we’re
getting a worse price against tighter ranges:

100NL, 100BB e ective

Hero is on the BTN

LJ opens to 3.5BB. HJ calls. co folds. Hero…

Using the ranges from the Upswing Lab to estimate, LJ opens with:
 

LJ opening range as recommended by The Upswing Lab

(44+,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,98s,87s,76s,65s,AJo+,KQo)

And HJ calls with:

 

HJ calling range vs LJ open from The Upswing Lab (JJ-

66,AQs-ATs,KJs+,QJs,JTs,T9s,98s,AQo)

We need to call 3.5BB to win a pot of 12BB after the blinds fold. Our direct pot odds
— without consideration of the blinds — are 29.17%.

If we assume that the blinds will squeeze 10% combined if we call (stronger players
will squeeze more often), then our e ective pot odds when calling with a marginal
holding are 32.41%.
 

After seeing the above chart, one might come up with a continue range like this:
 

When we call, however, we put ourselves in a position to get aggressively squeezed

by the blinds (see Example 1.5). Instead, we can squeeze a larger proportion of our
range to kick the blinds out of the pot and keep our continuing range uncapped.
When squeezing our entire range, we use a smaller size to deny 4-bets some
pro tability.

We will need to add some hands to our range that play well in-position in a multiway
3-bet pot, which is more likely to happen when we squeeze smaller. Hands like 54s,
65s and 76s have solid equity against tight ranges.
 

Hero looks at 6♣4♣ and raises to 10BB. 2 folds. LJ raises to 35BB. 2 folds.

Example 1.5
Squeeze a larger proportion of your range from the blinds as more players enter
the pot.

When facing multiple callers, we should look to squeeze with a higher frequency
from the blinds — especially the BB. This is because more callers add extra dead
money from capped ranges to the pot. We should look to put pressure on these
capped ranges to thin the eld and hopefully win the pot pre- op. For example:

100NL, 100BB e ective

Hero is in the BB

LJ opens to 3.5BB. HJ calls. co folds. BTN calls. sb folds. Hero…