How and When to Steal the Blinds in Tournament Poker

It is an unwritten law of tournament poker that you should seek to steal dead money in any pot. With each blind you successfully do manage to steal you are adding to your own chip stack. Blind stealing is an essential skill to master especially given the mechanics of tournament poker and constantly rising blind levels.

When seeking to steal the blind you are trying to take down the pot without a fight from your opponents. You want them to fold instantly to your bet before the flop. The best time to try this is when you have late position and are last, or one of the last, to act. If when it is your turn and there are no raisers in front of you it could be a good time to attempt a blind steel by throwing out a good sized raise.

Bear in mind the characteristics of your opponents however because your stealing attempts will not work every time and a savvy opponent may pick up on what you are trying and fight back. He might be trying to out bluff your bluff so to speak.

In the later stages of a poker tournament you can try to steal the blinds from early position as being one of the first to act can at that time be an advantage and used to scare your opponents in thinking you have that monster hand pre-flop .

Always be on the look out for blind stealing opportunities. Take in to account your position, your chip stack size, the size of your opponents' chip stacks, their playing style and the general table image. For example the closer a poker tournament comes to the bubble plat tend to become very tight as nobody wants to go out on the bubble. This could present you with stealing opportunities and help to build your chip stack in to a winning one.

Take particular note of your opponents' chip stack in relation to yours. It's generally easier to try a steal against smaller stacks that bigger stacks - the big stacks can fight back and crush you. Take note of your opponents and their playing styles. When the time is right then go for that steal.

The more you get it right, the more blinds you will steal, you will win more pots and have a table image that your opponents might fear to tangle with. Stealing the blinds in tournament poker is an essential skill to develop. And one which can make a big different to your tournament poker play and money finishes.

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Source by Andy Machin