Ok folks. Lets talk about blind stealing. Its a vital (or should be) part of anyones game.

Now as we all know, sites sometimes just go willy nilly with switching you from table to table. If at the start of a tournament I am at table 1, so will never get switched, life is good. But no matter, one of the first things I look at is the three people to my left on the table. To figure out....can I blind steal them.

Now I believe that everyone should do this. Blind stealing becomes really really important in later stages. Many a tournament I've been in depends (because blinds DO matter) on my ability to steal the blinds.,

So, you can be the rock player that just steals once and a while. That works to an extent, as anyone paying attention will know you are playing rock, and fold to you. lol, the  fruits of playing Rock, is PEOPLE FOLD to you.

I like to blind steal, and also realize that you are never gonna be anything at poker unless you have Blind Steal in your arsenal, and use it.

So, as I said, first off at a table, I better know the 3 to my left, and their card ranges. That's right, I said card ranges. It's the necessary key info I need to make successful  steals. You should always be trying to figure out the card ranges of all players and be making notes about it, but the card ranges of the 3 to your left is critical. Because I really believe, you MUST blind steal to survive later.

The hands you should try to steal with depend on the range of hands you expect your opponents in the blinds to defend with. If they’ll defend with relatively few hands, then you should steal with a lot of hands. If they’ll defend with a lot of hands, then you should “steal” with few hands, but raise a lot of hands for value.

Anyway, just a ramble, what are your thoughts?

I try to steal blinds with 2.5BB raise only.

That is pure NUTS if u ask me. show me a player that always bets the same amount for X action is easy chips at a poker table.


If you study the 2 to ur left, u should know if they defend or not. If u have have someone that only defends with premium hands, u are still going to win 7 to 8 out of 10 times, thus making it a +EV play.

And good blind stealing means not sweating the chips u put in , and knowing when to fold to a re-raise

lol, cow. Look, I am not about to go into my notes that I gotz on you and spill the beans, so to speak.

I'm talking a bit about blind stealing, and its inherent usefulness in a poker players arsenal of tools.

Blind defense is actually a whole other topic. And yes, something a player NEEDS to have. I'll try to order my thoughts on that and make a separate post on blind defense strategies at some point.

i usually play cash games (up to 25NL) but lately am trying to get profitable in 3.40$ SnGs. i'm happy with my stealing in the cash games, but i find it difficult to do it in the fast pace of the 1-table tournament - i constantly feel i don't steal enough.

do you have percentage guidelines for stealing? for example, if players X/Y defend SB/BB 30/50/70% of the time how often do you try to steal? Do you include the ante and the M factor when considering a steal?