My rules for stealing pots

Stacks:
* MP2 with 17130
* CO with 8332
* BTN with 63385
* SB with 31950
* BB with 51587
* UTG with 72183
* MP1 with 25433




Blinds:
Site: Full Tilt Poker
* * Dealt to BTN:7♦ A♠
Preflop:
* * 4 players fold.
* * Hero calls [1,200]
* * SB raises to 2,400
* * BB calls [1,200]
* * Hero calls [1,200]
* * Total folds this street: 4
* * Potsize: 6001
Flop:
* * 6♣ 10♣ 10♥
* * SB bets [1,200]
* * BB calls [1,200]
* * Hero calls [1,200]
* * Potsize: 8402
Turn:
* * 5♥
* * SB checks
* * BB bets [3,000]
* * Hero calls [3,000]
* * 1 players folded.
* * Total folds this street: 1
* * Potsize: 11405
River:
* * 8♥
* * BB bets [1,200]
* * 1 players fold.
* * Hero raises to 9,600
* * 1 players fold.
Uncalled bet of 8,400 returned to Hero Hero wins the pot (20,250)
* * Total folds this street: 1

Poker Hand Converter By Cardschat.com Poker Forum

These are the general guidelines I follow for when I want to steal a pot.
1. Don't do it often. Eventually people get suspicious.
2. Do it with bigger pots. If you're stealing 1-3 BB pots, you probably are only betting a small amount relative to stack size to minimize potential losses, so eventually you'll get caught.
3. Do it post flop or potentially on the turn or river. Few things say 'I have a hand' more than sticking around long enough to have hit something.
4. Know your victim. Don't bluff calling stations. (I happen to be one. I find calling bluffers personally satisfying.) Trappers are another thing you must avoid.
5. Steal from people you think are betting a mediocre hand. (I think this guy had a 6.) Even better, steal from people you think are stealing.
6. Steal with a decent amout of chips, but not more than you can afford to lose.
7. Don't be afraid of blocker bets that your opponent may throw out there to stop you from stealing. Steal anyway. The fact that you are reraising them actually inforces the image you want to build. This guy's min raise on the river was a big "STEAL THIS POT" sign hanging above his head.
8. With multiple opponents, you want position on all of them. However with a singular opponent, this is not always the case. If you're SB vs. BB, odds are against either of you hitting the flop strongly enough to get direct odds to call even a minraise. Nothing says 'I have top pair, middle or bottom pair is no good' like an out of position bet. I only do this when I really stortstacked, need to steal a single big blind, and my opponent is as nearly as shortstacked as I am. (The hand that comes to mind as an EXTREME 'do not try this at home kids' example involves the time I was short-stacked on a final table. Blinds were 500/1000. I had roughly 2500 going into the hand. BB had roughly 3500. Folding left me with 2000, meaning I would likely be out the next time the blinds rolled around. However stealing, since antes were in effect, gave me 4000 which would give me enough room to manuver. The problem with this idea is that I had 62 off in my hand. Action folded to me. A preflop minraise would be such an obvious steal that it might be called regardless if his hand has any strength at all. Then I would be stuck with 62 off postflop and a stack too small to not call should I continuation bet. So I decided to do my bluff postflop by minraising. Flop comes 10 7 4 rainbow. Now before I continue the story, I would just like the rational behind this bluff because I know there will be people who think I'm crazy for doing this with 62 off. (I suspect they'll think I'm crazy no matter what I say.) 1. We were already in the money so I wasn't risking the possibility of not cashing. 2. Since I expected the blinds to take me out anyways, should my bluff fail and he doesn't fold to my minraise, I could just check/fold the turn and river and allow myself to be taken out by the blinds with little change in my EV. 3. In his mind, I was putting his tournement life on the line. He would be expecting another raise on the turn putting me allin. Should He call me and lose then he would be left with a single big blind. While he would be getting the odds to call an open ended straight draw and maybe a pair of 7s or 4s, the risk will probably push him off the hand. He may even fold a 10 if he thought I was on a draw. 4. If I was extremely lucky, 58 or 53 would hit. All that said, I was definitely panicing for a few moments as he activated his time bank. If this had been live, he would have called me upon seeing my eyes. In the end, however, he folded the hand and I go on to place 6th.)

Interesting post,

I won't bother with critisizing all the possible problems for several reasons. First off you were all ready ITM, also shortstacked too. You made a good read and a good play that pushed the villian off of the pot which is all that matters in the end.

I do agree on your coments about frequency of pushing, if a players has been very tight it's tough to call his unexpected push unless I've made the hand. Too many guys push way to often making them easy foder at the right time by simply allowing them to be agressive then use the timer to help give them the illusion of your uncertanty of your hand. Most of these guys can't take a reraise on thier big push at after the river and the rest call to save face, showing the garbage they were playing.

Pot stealing is all about timing and knowing your villians.