To help get you in the proper stealing mood, check out this video.
What is a steal?
Stealing is making a pre-flop raise in an unopened pot from late position (Button, Cut-off and sometimes hi-jack positions) or the small blind with the intention of winning the blinds, usually with relatively weak holdings.
Why steal?
As I mentioned earlier, stealing is hugely profitable. Hugely profitable? Come on! We are only talking 1.5 big blinds (bb), that is like $1.50 at NL100. That doesn't sound "hugely profitable" does it? Well, let us put that in context, shall we? A solid winrate is around 6-10 bb/100. A successful steal will yield you a winrate of 150bb/100! Obviously you aren't always going to be successful, but it should be clear how profitable stealing can be.
Even if you get called you stand to win even more if because you will be playing post-flop 1) in position; and 2) with initiative and that makes poker a lot easier to play. Well, that and the fact that people tend to auto-fold to continuation bets at a sick high rate.
There are also indirect benefits to stealing the blinds. For instance, you may get an image of being a "loose" player because it will appear as if you are playing a lot of hands (and a lot of crappy ones if you happen to show down a steal attempt). When you get that image you'll find it easier to get paid off with your big hands (note that if you show down a really weak hand you'll need to tighten up on the stealing for a bit because your image will be crap).
Look to your left
Whenever you have an opportunity to steal, the first thing you want to do is to look to the people on your left and assess your opponents. Once that is done, THEN look at your cards. When looking for ideal opponents to steal from look for:
* Low VPIP (i.e. a tight player)
* Low 3bet percentage (for obvious reasons, you don't want to steal on a guy who is likely to 3 bet you)
* High fold to steal percentage. If you have a HUD, have this stat on there. The higher the percentage, the more often you should be stealing.
* High folds to a cbet. These guys are even better than the folks who habitually fold to steal attempts because they practically hand you their pre-flop call money to you. Bet sizing hint: against opponents with low fold to steals and high fold to cbets, you should make your steal amount higher to take advantage of this huge leak.
* Look at the stack size. From really tight (and bad) shortstackers you can steal from them all day long because they play like nits. However, be aware that if you steal with a normal 3-4bb raise, you are going to find yourself being committed to the pot with a pretty wide range (ie. pretty much anything but complete trash). For that reason, I recommend using a min-raise steal against the shorties, even if you don't otherwise adjust your open raise size.
Ideal Hands for Stealing
As with most anything in poker, it depends. It depends on the players left to act, your image, the table dynamics, and your skill/comfort in playing post-flop. Here are some things to think about though:
* Be very loose from the button, tighten up a bit from the cutoff, and tighten up even more the hijack.
* Generally, look for hands that have at least a little post flop value: suited aces, suited kings, suited connectors, suited one gappers, any two broadway cards, any pocket pair. If you aren't comfortable playing post-flop you can tighten up and play the tops of the these ranges.
* If you have tight people to your left, you can steal with any two cards. Keep stealing until they adjust.
* If you have loose players to your left, you need to tighten up, but it doesn't mean you can't steal. In this situation, I personally prefer hands that have the ability to flop good top pair hands (like two broadways, Ax hands and Kx hands) as opposed to hands that flop good draws (like suited connectors and gappers). The reason is that loose players tend to call you down with 2nd and 3rd pairs so you can get an unusual amount of value from weak-ish top pair hands.
* If you have a loose player on the button or the cutoff you'll need to tighten up considerably because if you get called you will be playing out of position.
Note on Betsizing
Generally speaking, I like to lower my open raise from steal spots. I do this for a number of reasons. One is that because my range is going to be wider, my average hand strength is going to be weaker. A smaller bet size means that I risk less when I get caught stealing. Also, a smaller bet size means your steal has to work less frequently to be profitable. For example, if you steal by raising to 4bb, it has to work 73% of the time (we are risking 4 units to win 1.5 units). If you min-raise to 2bb, it only has to work 57% of the time (risk 2 units to win 1.5 units).
Getting Caught
It is simply going to happen. You raise with your 7,5 offsuit on the button and the big blind 3 bets you. There is no shame in folding a busted steal attempt. Do not waste money getting stubborn and 4 bet him with crap (or worse, flat-call the 3 bet).
Just let it go and steal again the next time you get the chance. If he starts to 3 bet you frequently, then you may want to think about...Adjusting
If you steal as often as you should be, even an unobservant fish will start to catch on. Fortunately for us, many of our opponents adjust by calling us instead of 3 betting us. We love when our opponents adjust this way because they are often still playing fit or fold poker on the flop and you'll be taking the pot down a ton with a cbet. When our opponents adjust by 3 betting or calling and playing tricky post-flop more frequently than normal, you need to start cutting down on the stealing for a bit. After you've tightened up for a round or two and showed-down some strong hands, you can recommence your frequent stealing until your opponents adjust again. Rinse and repeat.
I hope this article helps you in your attempts to steal. Until next time, good luck at the tables! If you have any questions about this article, or anything online poker related, please free to shoot an email to: dougfieselman@ymail.com. For great rakeback and bonus deals, please visit PokerNewsPage.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment