GaF Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 How important is stealing blinds on (deep stacked) cash tables? My view has always been not to worry about either stealing blinds or defending my blinds in a deep stack scenario - I felt it was only important when short stacked (i.e. mostly in middle and late stage Tournament play) Two completely different sources in my recent reading have however looked to counter this opinion (with really developing the idea further) PLAYING ON THE BUTTON ... Stealing the blinds is so important that you should be willing to raise almost every unopened button until the blinds adjust. And when they do' date=' simply tone it down a little then hammer them again once they have cooled off.[/quote'] I'm not disagreeing with raising almost every unopened button, but perhaps not convinced that the reason you do that is to steal blinds. I think your reasoning is instead to play a larger pot when you have position :unsure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Re: Stealing blinds in cash games I play only cash these days. Blind stealing is vital, keeps the cash ticking upwards, and gets you action when you hit. I'm always surprised at the number of people that feel the need to defend a blind against a 3 or 4 x BB raise, but will fold against a pot size bet on the flop. It's such a routine play for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveO Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Re: Stealing blinds in cash games I wouldn't raise every bb when folded round to me in a cash game but its probably over 50%. In omaha it's more card dependent and the hand has to be playable at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaF Posted August 23, 2008 Author Share Posted August 23, 2008 Re: Stealing blinds in cash games Blind stealing is vital, keeps the cash ticking upwards, and gets you action when you hit. Maybe that aludes to a significant difference in approach as well (without judging either as being "right" or "wrong") If deep stacked (> 100xBB) my goal (and seemingly the goal of Harrington in his cash books) is to find a situation to stack my opponent. I want to keep probing away at my opponents, wanting to give the impression of constantly "being at it", but letting hands go, until I get the big one .... I am happy to lose a lot of small pots if it sets me up to win some big pots. It seems like you are looking instead to win a lot of small pots? A graph of my session at a cash table is typically steadily and slowly downwards with (hopefully) occasional big spikes.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapdash Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Re: Stealing blinds in cash games I'm definitely not a cash game specialist, but ... You're no doubt right that deep stacked cash games are "about" the big pots, but that doesn't mean you should totally ignore the small pots. If you can make a small profit by stealing blinds, then why not? A profit's a profit, after all. It would only be wrong if stealing the blinds hurt your table image for the big pots and made it harder for you to win those, but I don't see why that should be the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Re: Stealing blinds in cash games .... I am happy to lose a lot of small pots if it sets me up to win some big pots. It seems like you are looking instead to win a lot of small pots? 100% correct, I try for lots of small pots. Constant churn. The big pots will take care of themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsterling Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Re: Stealing blinds in cash games I don't really even see it as "blind stealing" its just positional play. Very important in cash games though. I find it useful to vary my opening raise size around the table - opening to the smallest amount on the button. This way you can open a wider range and also be able to 4-bet bluff, or call 3-bets more profitably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whycantistayawayfromdogs Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Re: Stealing blinds in cash games I don't really even see it as "blind stealing" its just positional play. Very important in cash games though. ditto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goater14 Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Re: Stealing blinds in cash games I'm always surprised at the number of people that feel the need to defend a blind against a 3 or 4 x BB raise, but will fold against a pot size bet on the flop. Spot on:ok, especially in the lower limits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nade Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Re: Stealing blinds in cash games I do see stealing as stealing as AJ says to keep ticking over. Also stealing heightens your PFR% and VIP% which everyone uses to guage how a player is playing so consistently stealing blinds will keep these high enough to get action when you do actually have a hand (To put it very simply). TBH i don't care for defending my blinds too often just once in a while i'll 3bet the button/CO to let them know the score but i don't like building big pots with marginal hands OOP short handed and overall it's a lot more profitable for me anyway to 3bet in LP then OOP and play the bigger pots that way. Generally raising in LP keeps your opponents guessing and makes you a tougher player, stealing is just a part of the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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