BLIND STEALING

You know the guy; he reads the first couple of chapters of Supersystem, which he is now using as a coaster, and he has learnt a dozen poker terms watching WPT. He was at my table last night in a Pokerstars 3 table SNG and spent the entire game telling people what they were doing wrong; "you don't call with that," "you don't raise that much," etc. This weinie made it very clear that he was only going to play the premium hands that were on his premium hands list, and he got crippled by J8o, at which point he reminded everyone how wrong the other guy was because he raised before the flop. Mr. Weinie got busted after he announced he had AQ and went all in "because I don't want anyone to suck out on me," at which point I called with probably the first hand I had got all night, pocket queens, and sent him home. I won the SNG btw, go me.

Its took me a long time to learn and many a reread of the gospel according to Harrington, but in a tournament the cards in my hand are several places down the pecking order whenever I make a decision. I used to 'make to money' a lot in tourneys and SNGs by playing solid and waiting for big hands, nowadays I probably make the money less often, but I make a hell of a lot more money because I am now making final tables in the MTTs and taking first place in the big SNGs (I don't play single table SNGs). The reason? Blind stealing. Blind stealing is my number one tournament tool and most of the time, by the hour mark I will either be the chip leader or I will be busted.

I won a stars 5 table SNG a few weeks ago and I swear I must have played more hands than anyone but barely had to show down any of those hands. I simply slowly built a stack in the early stages with premium hands, started blind stealing in the middle stages and by the time the FT was in session I had enough chips to do as I please. For most of the game I was getting things like 79o and K7s, but nobody else knew that. All they had seen was the few times I had made trips or caught a flop with AK, and I made sure they did see that.

Before I present my blind stealing guidelines let me quickly define it. For it to be a blind steal it is a preflop raise which has no intention of being called. Therefore the only starting requirement is that your hand is a poor one. You might want to start only blind stealing with hands that could potentially get you out of jail, like ace junk, king junk or suited cards (ie, something where you could donk out on somebody). The only other real requirement is that you have enough chips left to damage someone else's stack, because if they dwarf you in chips, they might take a risk to bust you out.



Don't steal until they're worth stealing: Blind stealing becomes very profitable in the middle to late stages of a tournament. There is no point taking any risks at all when you only stand to win 30 chips, people are happy to defend their blinds and see a flop. Wait till the blinds are at least 50/100 and are both something you want to win and something they wont want to lose.

Make sure you are the first to act: Don't try and steal if someone has entered the pot behind you, even if they just limped in they have invested in the pot and must have some conviction in their hand.

Only steal in late position. I personally wont blind steal unless I'm at least one place off the button. Anything earlier than that and you will run into a genuine hand.

Bet a random amount: Don't use the slider to dictate the amount you bet because it only selects a standard number of big blinds, type in a random amount. If the blinds are 100, bet 280 instead of 300. If the blinds are 200, bet 475 instead of 600 etc. This serves several purpose. Firstly it gives the impression that you have really thought about your hand carefully, whereas most people would otherwise think 'ok, he bet x 3 the BB'. Secondly, the chips will visually appear larger than it actually is on most poker rooms because they will be stacked in a different way, 475 on Pokerstars appears like more chips than 500 for example, silly I know but it works. Finally if you are planning on stealing a lot, you can in the long run save a few chips here and there by betting just under the standard x3 x4 bets.

Bet an amount that's big, but looks like it wants a call: Don't put 1000 chips into a 50/100 pot. Its not worth the risk because if you get called you almost certainly will lose. Also, people are sometimes more tempted by a potential all in bet than a smaller bet, figuring they could be in a coin flip and you don't want a call with a huge bet. Don't put a minimum raise in because only an idiot would fold (Therefore it might work on Pacific Poker). I suggest betting between 2.5 and 4 times the big blind, that sort of bet looks like it wants action. If they fold, every now and then tell them they made a good laydown, that suggests you had something like bullets.

Showdown your good hands: When you get AK, AQ, 99 etc make sure you raise them the same way. Then if you get a fold show them down. People are much more inclined to player note what they see than what they think you may have had, and player notes can be very misleading.

Don't stop doing it till you get caught out: Be very careful when you get exposed stealing, because people will start taking a stand against you with anything. When people keep calling or reraising you will have to tighten up and wait for a few hands. This will also pay you off when you do get a hand because you are more likely to get action when they think you have 7 high again. If you flop a monster: Push it all the way but if it gets showdown and cracks a big hand, get ready to change gears or pray to get moved to another table.

Realise when someone else is pot committed. Steal off the big stacks, steal off the medium stacks but avoid the short stacks. Pretty soon they are going to move all with a marginal hand anyway, so wait until you either have a hand or try and see a flop against them.

If you get reraised: Put on a little show, pause, type hmmmmm and eventually tell them that you are laying down KQ, you might improve their confidence against you but you will have kept your table image of playing big hands. Call the reraise if the pot odds are worth it, of course.

If you get called: Don't be afraid to make a continuation bet on the flop. You have after all represented a big hand and they only called you, so the chances are you are ahead in their eyes. If they call or reraise you at this point and you still don't have a hand, don't invest a single chip more and admit defeat (But perhaps type some BS about you think your jack kicker is no good help your table image)

Exploit the bubble: When you are a couple of places away from the money mark, if you have a good stack start raising slightly more than you have been doing, people will start throwing away their coinflip hands hoping you will take out some other sucker instead.

After you make the money: Tighten up a bit, people loosen up when they know they have definitely won something