Blind Stealing Defense, Part 1

People ask me where I get my inspiration for articles, and generally the answer is that my ideas come from things that other people have written - forum posts, emailed questions, even other articles. A perfect example of the this came to me a few days ago. I was on a poker discussion site (not this one; yes, there are others), and someone posted an article that he thought was revolutionary, and really described the way he played. Naturally, I clicked on it, and opened an article on a familiar poker site on. . . stealing blinds.

Not that it was a bad article. It wasn't. Not that it wasn't timely, or true. It was. But it seemed like the 300th such article that I've read which stated, in one way or another, "if you are going to win poker tournaments, you've got to learn to steal blinds."

So, this is not going to be an article on stealing blinds. If you don't know why it is important, or how to do it, there is plenty of information out there. If you can't find it, post the question to the forum, and I'm sure my colleagues will direct you to the answers.

I'm here to answer a different question, namely: "How do you defend against the blind stealer?"

Because that's the next step in the evolution of tournament poker. Players learn to play good cards, then somebody figures out that you can raise without good cards, so long as nobody else has cards to call you with. Then, somebody figures out that you are raising without good cards, and plays back at you. But how best to play back at the raisers?

The simple answer is, "raise 'em back!" But is that always the best solution? Is just calling them a better one? Is there something that you can do to prevent them from raising in the first place? I'll try to tackle some of these questions in this series, and hopefully put you in a position to know how do deal with the blind stealing bully.

Enter the Mind of a Thief

If you've had any success in tournaments, you've no doubt been on the stealing end of this yourself, so we needn't spend too much time explaining why players steal blinds. But there are several points I want to make about what blind stealers are concerned about when they go after blinds. Here are the biggest, in order of frequency:

1. Defenders sitting in the blinds. Nothing disrupts a steal attempt more than players who habitually defend their blinds. These players are willing to call or reraise out of position with presumably weak cards, just to prevent blind stealers from running over the table.

2. Someone waking up with a hand. Typically, blind stealers will do so from late position, so as to minimize the number of players who are acting behind them, but even if they are on the button, there are still two players behind them preflop, and either of these players could "wake up" with a hand worthy of a call or a reraise.

3. Getting called and outplayed. If the raiser is called by one of the blinds, or from a player in position, he should normally expect to be behind going into the flop. He knows this, and his opponent knows this too. So any control of the hand that he gained by raising has evaporated as soon as he was called. So the chances of his getting outplayed after the flop are much higher than they would be under normal circumstances. More on this later in the series.

When a Thief Might Not Be a Thief

If you are defending against a thief, you also have to be concerned about a few things, namely that your so-called thief isn't a thief at all, but a late-position raiser who is raising with the Goods. It is not an absolute disaster to call here, but it can be to reraise, especially if he has enough to call you with. Let's look at signs that your "thief" is really a wolf in wolf's clothing.

1. It is early in the tournament. Most blind-stealing won't happen until the blinds have risen to at least five percent of the starting chip stacks, or when the antes have kicked in. So, if you're in a tournament where everyone starts with $5000 in chips, nobody is stealing when the blinds are at 25 and 50. And if they are, it is probably best to just let them. The $75 that they steal from the table isn't worth defending. When the blinds get up to 150 and 300, then you'll see some blind stealing.

2. The raise is from early position. The classic steal position is the button, a position which means that only the two blinds could wake up with a hand and reraise. Many players will steal from one off the button (the cutoff) or two from the button (which I've heard called the "hijack"). Some aggressive players will even steal from middle position, if the table is especially tight. But if you see a raise from early position, you are probably not looking at a steal. Sure, some guys will raise with any two cards, but the odds are that early position raisers have something to raise with.

3. The raise follows a limper or two. If you see a limper and then a raise, you are probably not looking at a blind steal. And if you are, you certainly don't have to defend against the steal, since the original limper will probably do that for you. Blind stealers look to be the first one to enter a pot, and limpers, especially those who call raises after having limped, make for bad stealing opportunities.

4. A raiser raises right after getting caught stealing. Most blind stealers will back off a little after they are caught stealing, at least for a few hands. If your stealer comes back with a raise after meekly folding to a re-raise, he probably wants to be re-raised again. Don't be the guy to do it.

5. The raiser raises a short-stack's big blind. When the big blind is on a very short stack, blind stealers have to go straight for awhile. Everyone at the table knows that the big blind will have to call a raise with almost anything, so until that player is eliminated, don't interpret raises as blind steals. The same is true for the small blind to a lesser degree. You will still see some raises, but not with hands on pure steals.

6. A short-stacked raiser holds something back. This isn't a common situation, but it does happen from time to time. A late position raiser only has six big blinds and raises it to three, keeping the other three in his stack. Normally, such a short stack would just push all-in. Why doesn't he? Because he wants a call, that's why. If you call him, you'll get a shot at the rest of his chips. But you'll need to beat a big starting hand in order to get them, that's for sure. Just be sure that you know that if you are going to call in this situation.

Once you put it together that your "thief" may not actually be a thief, then you just play normal poker against him, evaluating your hand and his raise as you would any other hand. Notice that you're not going to ever be 100% certain whether your opponent is stealing or not. But if he meets one of these characteristics, you should expect to be up against a legitimate hand.

Next month, we will talk about the three ways to defend against blind steals - calling, reraising, and limping -- and when each method is preferred. Until then, good luck in your tournaments, and don't just let 'em have those blinds.

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