How To Steal The Blinds
Stealing the blinds is a big part of poker. It’s an extremely important part of tournament poker in particular.
When the stack sizes are relatively large compared to the blinds, it diminishes the value of blind stealing. Later in the tournament though, savvy players who know how to aggressively steal the blinds are more often than not the same players you’re going to be seeing at the final table.
Early in a tournament, I don’t advocate that you steal too much. It depends on your style of play, but I’m a fan of playing patiently when the blinds are small, and getting my money in with good hands that I stand a reasonable chance of doubling up with.
As the blinds start to increase, say when you’ve got 20-40 times the big blind in your stack, then selective blind stealing starts to pay off. Middle to late position raises of 3-5 times the big blind work the best.
You don’t want to be stealing blinds when others have already entered the pot. Even if they limped in, they’ve said they have a hand and probably want to play.
When the blinds start to get high, and the tournament is approaching the bubble, is when blind stealing becomes extremely important. Just before the bubble, you’ll notice players start to tighten up, no one wants to get knocked out just before the money.
This presents a great opportunity for the better players to start stealing as many chips as possible. The great thing about later stages of tournaments is that you can generally steal with a much smaller raise than earlier in the tournament. Once the blinds are approaching 1/20th of the average stack size, you can usually get away with raising 1 and ½ the size of the big blind. This makes for a very low risk high reward play. If you get re-raised you can easily get away from the hand if you choose to do so.
You really want to be looking for good spots to steal in. Remember that being the first in the pot, unless you have a real hand, is crucial. Later position is also extremely important. Wait for spots in late position when the action folds around to you.
Knowing your players is also a critical factor. If you’re playing against strong players, they’ll know what your up to, and will do whatever they can to keep you from running over the table. If you’re against weak players, you need to pay attention to how often they fold. There’s no sense in trying to steal from a player who isn’t bright enough to fold a weak hand to a raise.
Just remember, that when it comes down to playing just before and on the bubble, that’s where the great players make their money. Avoid confrontation with short stacks and big stacks, focus on the medium sized stacks if at all possible. People are trying to fold into the money during this period. Be the one who makes their folds easy decisions and you can build up a huge stack in a very short period of time.