Stealing

Everyone knows stealing from the button is a good position to do it.

But what about stealing from other positions and times?

Late in a tourney trying to steal from MP with a marginal hand can be great if you can pick up the blinds/antes w/out a flop

Is stealing from UTG a good idea? If the entire table is playing tight?

i kind of think that stealing from under the gun is never an option i think it is always a limp even with A's because more agg players after you may try to raise to steal everyones money in your case with the raises after you you can come over the top and intern get what those A's are worth i think that the earlier your position the stronger your hand needs to be and utg is 1 so you better have #1

Find a tight enough table in the 25 NLFRHE and I'll steal regularly out to hi-jack plus one or two. The sad thing is when you play at those tables you often wind up accidentally stealing utg and uutg when you raise with the hands you wanted some action with.

UTG is the new button imo

As Phil Gordon said, the cut off is kinda money now. The blinds seem to be well aware of the trend that is stealing from the button. UTG seems too reckless to me considering the entire table is yet to act.

Besides, youre out of position if youre called.

Elaborate on this theory please. This is the 2nd time i've seen this now!? What's this all about?

No.

What's the difference between stealing from UTG and trying to play a raised pot, out of position, with weak cards? Even if your table is too tight it won't be enough to compensate assuming a full table with average stack sizes.

It's kind of a joke but in all seriousness it does have some merit.

UTG raises get a lot more respect than a button raise just do to the nature of how important position is in NL hold'em. People assume UTG raises mean strength and generally you get more folds.

By no means does this mean I'm advocating raising like 40% UTG like you would for the button, but I think it is important to mix in some steals UTG as it can be profitable and it helps to balance your range.

I dont think UTG steal is always bad. Table conditions and blinds will dictate whether it's +EV or not.

If the table is tight enough you can steal from any position but when you do try and steal from out off position makes sure you have a hand so you have a chance if you get called.an example off when to steal from any position would be when the bubble is near and noone wants to play untill the bubble is gone.

BB is the new button

I am starting to think that stealing from the button is beggining to be a bad idea lately. i have been getting calls and reraises from the blinds with crap hands that end up getting super lucky and they all say the same thing. I didn't think you had anything. i am done with done the stealing online.

Not necessarily. Under certain table conditions, it can be throwing money away. If your table is very aggressive and you're playing tight, then you're going to get reraised and have to fold more than 1/3 of the time, and you need to take it down at least 2/3 of the time to break even (assuming 3x raise). The two solutions to this situation are to either loosen up and call/4-bet more often OR you can steal from the button less often and clean up from people reraising your legit raises.

Another spot I don't like raising the button too much is in medium stacked non-bubble tournament situations, where you are more likely to have your raise shoved against as opposed to just called. One saving grace of the button steal is even if it fails initially, you may get to see the flop in position. If there's no chance of the blinds just calling, then you lose that benefit. The ideal position in all-in preflop situations is in the BB, NOT on the button.

this is not exactly true. if you get called by a bad BB player, you can often take down a bigger pot postflop, and often. thus, you don't just need to steal the blinds a certain amount of time to break even, but rather you can win many pots in good postflop situations (and you have position!)

I agree.. You get less and less respect for raises from the cutoff and button these days.

this tilts me so hard. just adjust! ok the players are calling your raises with crappy hands? so have better hands then them and get it in good. they're tightening up? play hands with higher implied odds (such as suited connectors) and stack them on flops you hit harder than them.

you can ALWAYS do something to adjust. if you're worried about someone getting super lucky, then adjust by reemphasizing the importance of getting it in good rather than the result

[quote=thetrimguy;1003674]I kind of think that stealing from under the gun is never an option. I think it is always a limp, even with A's, because more agg players after you may try to raise to steal everyones money. In your case, with the raises after you, you can come over the top, and in turn, get what those A's are worth. I think that the earlier your position, the stronger your hand needs to be, and utg is first? so you better have #1.[/quote]


FYP

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Don't you 2 take a good look at who you are playing to decide to steal or not. that would help your decision right.

yeah stealing from the button can be tough sometimes especially if you try it everytime people will start pushing on you because they start getting tired of losing there blinds. but that can set you up for a big hand later on when you do it with a monster pocket pair.

are starting to call more when they think you are stealing the blinds. It is an art. It also depends on who is at your table. You have to play your game and my game is to play good hands. If I catch a good hand and raise 3BB and everyone folds then that measn I can last another round or two of blinds without playing any hands and still have the same amount of chips I had when I made my 3BB raise. Patience is the key and players are so good now that they will call you more often when they think you are stealing blinds. Now if you have an aggressive table you can act like you are weak by going all in and "stealing the blinds" and then trap the aggressive players with your monster hand like AA and KK. Its tricky and takes lots of experience but again it always comes down to who your opponents are and what your table image is.

Given that you may have a reasonable chance more than 25% of stealing the blinds you could raise.The main factor remains however how the players players act after the flop and beyond. For example in an tight game it may be more profitable to try to steal on the flop and beyond rather than preflop.

I am laughing thinking I play way to tight when it comes to raising. I think I will start stealing more....no where near close to 40% on th ebutton. lol
I'll give it a try tonight. Stealing utg is not an option for metoday....maybe at a future date.

Trying to steal all depends on what types of players are in what positions. In my opinion position pertains more to live than onlin, due to the fact so many times I have seen the big or small blind pick up high pockets. Although online when you portray a strong table image you are more likely to be able to STEAL the blinds and antes from any position. But when stealing you to make sure you dont try to do it very often or people catch on then they start to call you with any 2 cards just to see what you have.

I mix my play up very often when playing online and when I play live it all depends the players I m playing. Live play I tend to play the player not the cards.

rather than deciding what postion is best when attempting to steal the blinds, aren't you better served finding the weakest player/tightest player and raise that person no matter your position. if you continue picking on the same person though be prepared to get looked up eventually. normally i wouldn't show cards but occassionaly show a strong hand to solidify your play.

Stealing in UTG is sick, The best position for stealing is in button or sb.

The only good thing about trying to steal from UTG or early position is you get credit for a huge hand, so even if the steal doesn't work you will rarely get 4bet, if they 4bet it's obvious you're beat. If they call and it's a dry flop you can lead out another steal bet knowing they don't have a big pair or they would have raised pre, and you know that it looks like you have a big pair. Dangerous though and you can get trapped pretty easy from this position.