Depending on the action - specifically on when it occurs and how it relates to you - finding yourself multiway post-flop will change how you play.

This article will go over some less common, more complex multiway scenarios. The choices you make in these oddball moments determine the scope of how successful a player you'll become.

The Short-Stack All-In

Take this example to begin with:

• Player 1 raises to $100 with $900 left in his stack.
• Player 2 goes all-in for $225.
• You look down at pocket aces.

In this type of situation, many players will make a large raise looking to isolate against the all-in bet. The logic behind this move is sound:

• If your opponent is moving all-in, chances are they have a premium hand, meaning you have them completely dominated.
• Being a huge favorite to win against any one hand keeps the variance and risk lower than allowing other hands into the pot.

Isolating your big hands against only one opponent can be a good idea for the aforementioned reasons. But an isolation raise in this scenario can be a mistake for the very same reasons. Your hand plays very well against any one other random hand.

Knowing what the third man in is going to do is key to surviving in large pots.

Consider this: you're getting it all-in against player 2 no matter what your choice. You no longer have any control over whether you win or lose the main pot.

If you smooth-call the all-in, allowing the third player into the pot, you're now basically pitting your aces against one hand, two times. In this scenario, if you can build a side pot large enough to cover your investment in the main pot, winning the side will freeroll you into the main pot with the best hand.

The Squeeze Play

One of the little tricks advanced poker players use is called the squeeze play (also known as a whipsaw). Before you can really grasp the complexity of this maneuver, you need to thoroughly understand the gap concept.

The Gap Concept

Simply put, you need a much stronger hand to call a raise than you need to make a raise. You need an even stronger hand to make a reraise than you would to make an initial raise.

Players 1, 2 and 3 are all sitting in a row. They are all very strong players operating at a high level of thought.

• Player 1 opens for a raise
• Player 2 calls

Player 3, familiar with the gap concept, understands that player 1 must have a decent hand, and player 2 must have a better hand. For this reason, for him to call or raise, he has to apply the gap concept to himself, needing a very strong hand to make any play.

Because he is aware of this, and is aware that both the other players also know of the concept, he can now make a squeeze play.

By reraising here with any two cards, he has represented a very large hand. Player 1 will typically only call here for fear of the strength of player 3's hand, as well as for fear that player 2 will push all-in.

Player 2 is now stuck in between two raisers showing significant strength. Chances are they are going to have to fold; the maneuver traps his bet and isolates the original raiser.

Even if the original raiser folds, player 2 is now stuck in a pot against significant strength while out of position. With anything less than a primo hand, it's typically a mistake to make a call here. More often than not, he is going to surrender the hand.

Something to Consider

When playing in multiway pots both live and online, you have to take one more step in your assessment than most players think. A majority will make a read of what player 1 has, move on to read player 2, and then play their hand accordingly.

These players, however, are missing an important step.

The third dial on his watch is a squeeze play sensor.

If you put player 1 on a flush draw, you know that you must make a bet large enough to not give them odds to draw without it being a mathematical mistake.

Now you move to player 2 and make the same read - that they are also on the flush draw. Many players will put them at a one-in-three chance to hit the flush, with a flush being nine outs and roughly 35% to hit.

Take into account, though, that if both players are on the same draw, it changes the odds. If you have one of the flush suit, the players are sitting on only six outs to make their hands. This puts them at ~24% to hit. There's a significant difference between one in three and one in four.

Since most players are stuck in their own routine, if you give them 2-1 odds on the hand, they will assume they have the odds to make the call (by assuming the final player will also call, to give them a total of 3-1).

Even though it's a very small margin, these small mistakes are what will build your fortune over the years. The same goes for you if you're one of the players with the draw. If you're down to six outs, you are going to need the other player to bet small enough to make the call profitable.

The only exception to this would be if you have the nut draw, and can put the third player on a lower flush draw as well. If they are the type of player who's unable to fold when they hit, you may have the implied odds to make a call of any size here.

Each read you make of a player in the hand will affect the reads you've made of all other players on the table.

Poker is dynamic, and you have to be able to make quick adjustments on the fly. The optimal way to play your hand against player 1 might be the opposite of how you will need to wield it after you make a read of player 2.

Calling More Powerful Than Raising

An important thing to remember when playing against good, solid, tight poker players: a call can be more threatening than a raise. Some of the best long-ball bluffs are set up by just making a call.

It's common knowledge that you're better off raising than calling. So if you see a strong aggressive player just call, you may get the impression that they're letting out some rope, trying to get you to hang yourself.

Advanced post-flop skill allows Daniel Negreanu to play more pots multiway, keeping his average pot size larger than many of his peers.

Multiway pots are often a battle between two players, with the other players just going along for the ride. If you have just called the first two streets, with two other players betting and raising, when you open for a bet on a later street it will cause them to completely reevaluate their position in the pot.

Anytime you can break a pattern and make a player feel compelled to stop and try to decipher what you are holding, and what you're doing with what you hold, you are in a position of power.

This is where you can force players to make big mistakes, instead of chipping away at them via their making dozens of little mistakes.

If you put on a sudden show of great strength, it's similar to a squeeze play, in that the second player to act is now worried that the player behind him is going to push over the top.

You can make players fold strong hands in this situation, leaving you heads-up with a final player who may have had a weaker hand than the player who just mucked.

The best players in the world are the ones who most effectively manipulate multiway pots. After all, the more players in the pot, the larger the pot is going to be.

The larger a pot is, the harder it is to bluff, the more accurate your reads must be, and the more convincing your intended actions.

More strategy articles from Sean Lind:

• Stages of Poker Part 1: Levels of Thought 1-2
• Stages of Poker Part 2: Levels of Thought 3-4
• Omaha High versus Omaha Hi-Lo
• Pot-Limit Omaha Beginners Guide Part 1