Introduction

• Steal with a 12-17 BB stack
  
• Average Stacks are the best opponents
  
• Tight-passive players are the best opponents
  

A steal is defined as a pre-flop raise with the sole goal of winning the blinds (and is done with a hand that is too weak for this to be considered a value raise). Steals become more and more important as the blinds increase in size. There are two reasons for this: 1) your stack will often be getting short and shorter, which means the blinds/stack ratio increases, and 2) a larger portion of the total number of chips at the table can be stolen.

Your steals should be the same size as your value raises, especially if you're a beginner. If you have one raise size with strong hands and another when you simply want to steal the blinds, your opponents will see right through you and always know how to react.

If, however, your opponent isn't able to differentiate between your steals and value raises, you will have two advantages: 1) Your steals will get more respect, since you will often have shown a strong hand after having made such a pre-flop raise in previous hands, and 2) you will get more when you do have a strong hand, since opponents know your raise doesn't necessarily mean you have a monster.

How big should your stack be?

It's always a matter of the risk/reward ratio. A blind steal should increase your chances of winning the tournament and not put your tournament life in danger. You need to have more than 10 BBs in your stack before you can steal. There is no max. stack size for stealing, but be aware that you may face a re-steal.

Your stack has to fulfil three criteria. Firstly, it has to be small enough for a steal to be worth the risk. 1.5 BBs aren't worth the risk when you have 30 BBs in your stack. If, on the other hand, you only have 3 BBs, you should go after those 1.5 BBs every chance you get.

The second criteria: Your stack has to be big enough for you to be able to put your opponent under pressure. This is perhaps best explained with an example:

You steal with a 12 BB stack; the player in the big blind has 20 BBs. The size of your steal is 3 BBs. The big blind has to call 2 BBs for a chance to win 4.5 BBs. His dilemma: He can pay 2 BBs to see the flop, but knows you can make him pay another 9 BBs to get to the showdown (key word: leverage).

If he calls, you are clearly in the better position: There are 6.5 BBs in the pot and you have 9 BBs left in your stack. You are playing in position with initiative and can take down a lot of pots without hitting the flop, since your opponent will only hit 30% of the time.

His other alternative (other than folding) is pushing, but that would require him to invest 12 BBs for the chance to win the 3 BBs you have invested. He also knows this raise isn't necessarily a steal, but could easily be a hand like TT (which you would then call with). Re-stealing can't be too appealing to him.

The third condition: Your stack shouldn't be too deep. You don't want to give opponents the chance to put you under pressure, and you don't want their implied odds to be too high, either.

Steal when your stack is between 12 and 17 BBs.

How big should your opponent's stack be?

The size of your opponent's stack also matters. There are four different classes:

• Big stacks
• Average Stacks
• Short stacks
• Super shorties

Big stacks won't be easy targets; you can't put that much pressure on them (forget about knocking them out, you can hardly even take a big chunk of their stack). There are, however, a number of loose, and sometimes just plain bad, big stacks to be found, especially in lower limits. They play too many hands and usually leave the tournament early or happen to get lucky and accumulate big stacks. Be very careful stealing such a big stack's blind.

An average stack is a little bit larger than yours. They are the perfect targets, since loosing an all-in against you either makes them extremely short, or knocks them out completely. Your steal puts the pressure on them. They should also be sitting fairly comfortably on their 17-25 BB stack and won't want to put it at risk.

Short stacks are 6 to 15 BBs. You'll have to be careful, since they can't afford to sit back and wait for good hands while other players knock each other out. They also have enough chips to be dangerous. You will be behind against a lot of hands they push with on the one hand; but a short stack' push always gives you good odds, on the other.

Take a look at this example: You have 15 BBs and steal raise to 3 BBs from the CO. The BU pushes to 8 BBs and the blinds fold. Now the pot the is 1.5 + 3 + 8 =12.5 BBs, and you have to invest 5 BBs more. This gives you 2.5:1 pot odds. You, therefore, "only" have to win 32% of the time for the call to be profitable. (You have to win 28% of the time to break even in chips, but must compensate for a 4% loss in the ICM). As you can see, a steal against a shorty effectively forces you to risk your whole stack if they push, even if you are far behind their range.

Stealing against super shorties can be dangerous; the pot odds won't let you fold if they don't. Although they may push with a weaker hand out of desperation, you aren't looking for a confrontation. You can afford to steal, but are far from desperate. Losing an all-in, even against a super shorty, will put you in a very tight spot.

Whose blind can you steal?

Tight opponents: Very good. This opponent will usually give in to your steal.

Loose opponents: Bad. They will often call or re-raise.

Passive: Almost perfect. Either he will fold, or he will let you do the betting, even when he has a hand. You can decide how much you are willing to invest and won't have to face any tough decisions. You can even stay on a draw all the way to the river, since he won't make you pay for it along the way.

Aggressive: Bad. Aggression is the last thing you want to face with a marginal hand, both before and after the flop. Aggressive players can force you into making bad folds (bad because you have good odds against his actual hand but not against his range). You will also find yourself under pressure after the flop: "Is he going to check/raise me or does he simply not have hand?" and "Is my middle pair good / is he on a draw?" are questions that you will often ask yourself.

Aggressive opponents can, in turn, be divided into four general categories:

Tight passive: An ideal opponent to steal from.

Tight aggressive: OK to steal from. This player will often fold. If he re-raises, you have an easy fold.

Loose passive: OK to steal from. A loose-passive opponent will call a lot of pre-flop raises, but often give up his hand (or at least not show any aggression) on the flop. You can set the tone and have a clear advantage.

Loose aggressive: The worst possible opponent to steal from. He will often force you into spots where you have to make tough decisions and not allow you any control over the hand.

How big should your steal raises be?

There are three aspects to consider when determining the right size for a bet: generating fold equity, maximizing value (when you have a great hand) and pot control (when you only have a decent hand).

In general, there are two standard sizes for steal raises: 2.5 and 3 BBs. We will take a "mathematical" look at an example of both.

The situation: you steal from the CO with 17 BBs in your stack and the opponents behind you each have 19 BBs. The BU will call and the blinds will fold.

You invest 3 BBs to win 1.5 BBs (the blinds). This means that 2 out of 3 steals have to be successful for you to break even pre-flop (neutral EV). You also still have a chance to win the pot after the flop.

There will be 7.5 BBs in the pot if an opponent calls. Your contibet will be roughly 4 BBs. You will only have 10 BBs left if you lose (assuming you don't invest more).

This time you invest 2.5 BBs to win 1.5 BBs. Winning 2 out of 3 times gives you +EV (you make 0.5 BBs).

There will be 6.5 BBs in the pot if an opponent calls. Your contibet will be roughly 3.5 BBs. This time you have only invested 6 BBs and will still have 11 BBs left if you lose.

2.5 might seem like the "right" size at first glance, but this is only true if it also generates as much fold equity as a 3 BB bet. This, however, will certainly not be the case. A 2.5 BB raise gives your opponent 2.6:1 odds; a 3 BB raise gives him 2.25:1.

Here it is also important to understand and keep in mind the effect of the size of your raise. A 2.5 BB raise won't get any respect in the lower limits.

Position, hands and image

You have two advantages when you steal from late position: It is less likely that an opponent behind you will have a better hand and you will be playing in position after the flop. The flip side: You generate less fold equity, since opponents are more likely to expect your raise to be a steal than a value raise.

A raise from early position gets much more respect. However, you run the risk of running into a better hand behind you and will often have to play out of position after the flop.

The advantages of stealing from late position clearly outweigh those of stealing from early position (not to mention the added risks). Steals should be made from the CO, BU and SB positions.

Broadway cards, suited connectors and pocket pairs (drawing hands in general) are all good stealing hands. These hands can hit big on the flop if you make that far. You can also play draws aggressively. Just remember, weaker hands should only be played from late position.

Another important point to keep in mind is your table image. Have you been raising a lot? If yes, then it's better to lay low and wait a bit before you try your next steal. You may have raised 5 times with pocket aces, but your opponents don't know this and will think you raise with any two cards. You can expect them to start re-stealing more often. If, however, you've shown AA the last 5 times you raised, your steals are more likely to be successful. You can also expect to steal successfully if you've folded for the past 15 minutes.

Your image with "regulars" is also of importance. If you've played against an opponent often in the past, you can expect him to have a different image of you than the other players who have only seen you play at that table.

How do you tackle limpers?

Until now we have assumed that you have been acting first-in. However, you will also find players (especially in lower limits) who limp in despite the very high size of the blinds. This is something you can easily take advantage of.

At this point we also have to start differentiating between pure steals and loose value raises. In general, it's extremely important to have a keen look at these limpers and take note of the following things:

• How often does he limp?
• Does he limp only to fold to a raise before the flop?
• Does he limp and then call potential raises? Could he push?
• Does he go broke on the flop with a lot of bad or marginal hands?

When you analyse and pay attention to these things, you will be able to play very effectively against limpers. Anyone who does a lot of limp/calling generally has very weak hands, such as connectors or suited cards. With hand like KQo or A9s you can, therefore, make loose value raises and still be a clear favourite. You shouldn't, however, make pure steals with hands like J8s or 33.

You should love an opponent who often limp/folds. Make your steals a little looser than normal and regard his " BB as dead money.

If an opponent who normally enters a pot by raising suddenly limps, you have to very careful and fold all marginal hands. This is usually a trap, especially when the other players have around 12 BBs in their stacks.

Conclusion

Your steal has to generate sufficient fold equity for the limit you are playing. If, however, it is too high, you won't get paid out often enough when you have a hand with value.

Your personal raise size should also depend on how often you steal. If you tend to steal quite often, you should make smaller size raises; they won't have to work as often to be profitable in the long run.

You should also know which of you (you or your opponent) has the edge after the flop. If you think he does, you can push before the flop (even with 15 BBs) or choose a bet size that leaves you an easy push or fold decision on the flop.

Moreover, it's always crucial to ask yourself whether it's even profitable to make steals at the table you are sitting at, and if so, how often. When you are playing at the micro limits, it may sometimes be best not to steal at all since some opponents call extremely loosely. This will obviously make your steals much less profitable, and it also means that they become somewhat unnecessary, since you can just wait to get paid off with good hands instead. The question is if you want to risk half your stack for a steal and possibly only end up getting half of what you would have gotten when you do catch a monster hand, since you gambled away the other half of your stack on a steal beforehand.

Lastly, you have to look closely at how often you steal; i.e. how many of your late-position raises are for value and how many are bluffs. The frequency with which you make pure steals is obviously going to change the way opponents play against you (this only applies to good opponents who have played with you before). If they know that 50% of your late-position raises are steals that fold to a push, they will adapt by putting you all-in before the flop more often. Since they are now re-stealing with weak hands, your steal raise can turn into a value raise and you end up having to call when they push.

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