What is stealing the blinds and how to do it

Dealer: “Hold on, there are already enough chips in the pot to win. The players in the blinds will rarely have good hands, and even if they do face me, I still have position on them after the flop.”

When this phrase was said, blind stealing had just been created (blind steal), a powerful weapon for poker tournaments.
In this play, your goal is not to attract as many players to the table as possible, but rather to steal the chips already placed by the blinds, without confrontation. This is done with a raise, in the expectation that your opponents will fold their hands.

First, you should be in late position and all opponents in front of you should have folded, to reduce the chances of you facing a very strong hand, or at least a better one than yours. The ideal position for the blind steal is on the button (dealer), but it can also be attempted in the cut-off (just before the dealer), or in the small blind.

Stealing the blinds is most effective in tournaments, especially when the blinds are higher. In cash games, its effectiveness drops significantly, as the opponent is more likely to call to see the flop.

A raise of 3 to 5 times the size of the big blind would usually be enough to fend off opponents most of the time.

Some factors are important to evaluate whether to attempt blind steal:

• Opponents’ stack sizes – trying to steal the blinds against an opponent with a lot of chips can be disastrous. For this opponent, it would be easy for you to raise without compromising your stack. However, if your stack is quite large and your opponents’ stack is average, the situation is very favorable for this maneuver.
• Opponents' Attitude – against weak players or players who enter many hands, blind stealing is not as effective, as they will have a tendency to call the raise.
• Blind size – stealing small blinds is not a very valuable strategy, because even if you succeed, it would only increase your chip count by a small amount. An example: at the beginning of the tournament, blinds are 10/20, and you have 3000 chips. It is not worth risking it to win only 30 chips.
• Table image – if you have an image of an aggressive and very liberal player who enters a lot of hands, blind stealing has a lower chance of working. This is reversed if your image is that of a conservative and selective player.

Another factor to consider is your cards, of course. When trying to steal the blinds, your hand selection should be more liberal than usual. Hands like A9s, KJo, and low pairs are not usually worth raising, but they are good for blind stealing. Very weak hands can even be used, but the risk is much higher – if you get called, you will probably be behind.

To determine whether a hand is good enough to try to steal the blinds, evaluate the factors described above and always think about what to do if you are re-raised.

Now let's review the most important points about blind stealing:

• Being in the cutoff, button or small blind.
• Opponents don't have very big stacks
• All opponents in front of you have already folded
• Assess the profile of your opponents in the blinds. If they are too aggressive or too liberal, avoid blind stealing.
• Assess the strength of your hand. What are the chances of winning if you are called?
• Determine your table image – if you are tight, it is best to try to steal blinds.

Author: Jeferson “GremistaEterno”
Editor: Marcelo

A discussion of this topic can be found at:

Blindsteal: When to Use This Weapon