Defending Against a Squeeze

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $5/$10
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $1000
Foucault: $1711
CO: $1514
Button: $551
SB: $1850.75
BB: $1163

Pre-flop: (6 players) Foucault is UTG+1 with :th :td
UTG folds, Foucault raises to $35, CO calls, 2 folds, BB raises to $145, Foucault calls, CO folds.

Flop: :qh :4d :9h ($330, 2 players)
BB bets $190, Foucault calls.

Turn: :kc ($710, 2 players)
BB bets $430, Foucault raises to $860, BB folds.
Uncalled bets: $430 returned to Foucault.

Results:
Final pot: $1570

Villain here is a 5/10 regular. He’s not one of the most aggressive, but I still think pre-flop he’s squeezing a wide range, particularly because he knows I’m opening wide from the CO. Obviously TT is a monster relative to both my opening range and Villain’s squeezing range, so I’m not folding. I could four-bet pre-flop, but that really over-represents my hand. Even though it means keeping stuff like AJ/AQ/KQ in Villain’s range, I’m OK with that because I’m in position and have a somewhat concealed hand.

I expect him to bet this flop nearly 100% of the time. Again, raising is justifiable, but especially now I am not concerned about knocking him off of unpaired overcards and would rather just play my position.

I wasn’t thrilled with the turn, but among my first thoughts was that this was a good card for him to double barrel. I’ve played my hand passive pre-flop and on the flop in hopes that he would continue bluffing, and in truth I would have been more concerned if he had checked. Betting even a strong one pair hand like AQ, KJ, or even AK on the turn is really overplaying that hand. I don’t think he’s expecting me to continue with small pairs, which means he often checks those hands for pot control and because he thinks I’m more likely to pay off on the river than the turn.

The sizing of his turn bet is also important. It’s almost exactly half of the effective remaining stacks, which makes me think he wants to put me to a decision for all my chips while risking only half of that amount himself. So basically I still think I’m ahead of his range, and although my raise all in may cause him to fold everything I beat and call everything that beats me, it is still essential because otherwise I give him too much control on the river to bet whenever he thinks he’s good and check when he is not.