Introduction

• Give your opponent 2:1 odds at the most
  
• Loose aggressive players are the best opponents
  
• Pure resteals are of less importance
  

Responding to an opponent's steal with a raise in an attempt to force him to give up his hand is called restealing. This is usually an all-in push, which you learned about along with possible hand ranges in the Beginner's Section.

The purpose of a resteal is not getting a call out of your opponent. This means that pushing with pocket aces is, by definition, not a resteal. It's still a very good idea to play AA the same way as you play your resteals; this will make it harder for your opponents to get a read on you and make their decisions more difficult.

You have to identify an opponent's steal (or at least a raise that is likely to be a steal; he could have pocket aces, after all) before you can consider restealing.

How large should the stacks be?

The most important aspect of a resteal is the odds you give your opponent with your push. Can he still fold? Do you want him to fold?

You don't want him to fold when you have JJ, for example. You may, however, prefer to see him fold when you're holding pocket 7s.

The BU has 16 BBs in his stack and raises to 3 BBs. The SB folds. You are the BB and are considering a resteal with the 7 BBs you have left. There will be 11.5 BBs in the pot if you push, meaning the BU would have to pay another 5 BBs to stay in he hand - 2:1 pot odds. He will still have 8 BBs if he loses, enough to stay in the game and even generate fold equity with a push.

Take the same situation, but give yourself a 13 BB stack this time. There would then be 16.5 BBs in the pot; your opponent would have to pay 10 BBs to stay in the hand - 1.65:1 pot odds. Losing leaves him 3 BBs, too little to do much with. This time your opponent will be much more likely to fold.

As you can see, you need a hand that is ahead against most of the hands in your opponent's range to resteal as a shorty; your opponents will rarely fold and you will almost always have to win a showdown.

Fold equity is the most important criterion when you resteal with a larger stack. Both stacks, yours and your opponents, must be large enough for your push to give him less than 2:1 odds. Your raise should be at least pot size, preferably more.

You need at least 11 BBs to resteal to generate sufficient fold equity after a 3 BB steal from the BU.

Your resteal should be at least 3x the steal raise when you and your opponent are both deep stacked. You shouldn't, however, make a reraise that leaves you pot committed - you might as well push all-in.

Which opponents should you target?

As always, one of the most important questions to ask is: "Who can I use this move against?"

Tight: A poor choice for a resteal. Tight players rarely steal. When they do, they usually have a good hand.

Loose: A good choice. Loose players often have weak hands and have to fold to resteals. A lot of loose players in lower limits will even call with their weak hands. Their hands tend to be so weak, that you are usually a favorite.

Aggressive: Good, because aggressive players tend to raise before the flop, but a raise doesn't necessarily mean he has a strong hand and won't fold.

Passive: Poor - when a passive player steals he almost always has a good hand; he would limp or fold with a weaker starting hand and would never invest much in poor cards.

You can place your opponents into one of the following categories:

Tight passive: Stealing from them is a bad idea, restealing after they indicate the wish to play for a large pot an even worse idea. You should take another look at your hand - folding may be the best choice.

Tight aggressive: This is hard to say, since this is the style most good players have. They know the value of a steal, which can lead some to steal looser than they otherwise play. This is the type of tight aggressive opponent you can resteal against. You will have to get a good table read and move the from the TAG to the LAG group in steal/resteal situations. As a general rule of thumb, however, you should excercise caution against TAGs.

Loose passive: These aren't the best opponents for resteals, either, since they often limp with weak hands. They will, indeed, have a hand when they raise, the only question is if their definition of a good hand is good enough. You certainly can resteal from them, but keep in mind that loose passive players usually just limp.

Loose aggressive: These players tend too raise too much with weak hands and are the best targets for a resteal. Keep in mind they also tend to make loose calls, so you need a hand that can win a showdown. In other words: you can make looser value pushes against such players.

How large should your opponents stack be?

We've said a lot about the stealer's stack, but you also have to pay attention to the other stacks at the table that could still enter the hand or that have limped in ahead of you.

Super shorties are a very poor target. They can take your resteal as an invitation to take advantage of the good odds and push. They could also see themselves as pot committed just by being in a blind position.

You can pretty much ignore average stacks as long as you don't have a "ultra loose" read on them. After so much action ahead of them, they will only call with a very good hand. The big stacks won't be looking for any major confrontations, either, and their ranges will be just a little bit looser than that of the average stacks.

Don't worry if a third player calls your resteal with trash, which happens relatively often in the lower limits. You will still have the right odds and make a profit, as long as you practice conservative hand selection.

Position, hand selection and image

You will rarely have more than one or two players behind you, since steals are normally made from late position. Still, you have to be aware that there are players behind you - the more hands behind you, the tighter your resteal. You shouldn't call a 3 BB UTG steal (you know he steals with 3 BB and value bets 2 BB) with K9s from UTG+2 with 8 other players behind you.

You can't resteal with every hand, not even against loose opponents. Your hand should always be able to win a showdown. You can make an exception when: You are sure he will fold 70% of his steals to a resteal and you have app. 10 BBs left in your stack.

Pockets, Ax and broadway cards are best suited for resteals; you will rarely be too far behind if you do get called.

Remember you can only resteal when an opponent steals. If your resteals are always getting called and you turn out to be the underdog, your opponent wasn't stealing, he was value betting.

Your image is also an important part of a resteal; fold equity is what makes resteals profitable, after all. You will have a hard time finding success, if any, with a loose table image; value pushes will get you further.

Conclusion

Understanding and interpreting the situation is, as always in poker, the most important part of the decision process:

• Who is raising?
• How often is his raise a steal?

If, after asking these questions, you think it is likely that he is stealing, ask yourself:

• Who could still enter the hand and what kind of stack do they have?
• What is my image at the table?
• Can I generate fold equity with a push?
• Who is most likely to call?
• Is my hand good enough for a push?

Restealing isn't the most important move. Usually you will be reraising because you have a very strong hand. There is also no sense in throwing away your tournament life. Still, it's worth considering as a means of deterring steals from known, aggressive opponents. And remember: A player who steals a lot almost always has a hand with value when the steal turns into a push.

LINKS
Related Articles: Blind Steals: The Basics How to Play Before the Flop Discussion Forum: Discuss this article in the Forum