Stealing the blinds
This subject is probably well known for every regular player of Texas Hold’em. One of the first things you need to learn in your learning process to become a better player:
Develop your ability to play without cards.
Blind stealing can be very easy. A preflop raise in LP and all other players fold. Well done, you just made the perfect steal! This looks very simple, but are you able to this more often? Or maybe in other positions (UTG,EP or MP)? Or even when your on a bubble?
In this article we will give some interesting tactics that can be used to steal the blinds.
How to make your steal a success?
On some (micro)-limit games it’s just impossible to steal the blinds. The play is just not known, because these players will always call you when they have holecards that are somewhat playable.
Should you still try to steal the blinds on these limits?
This is all depending on the playable hand range these players are on. This means, you need to know how your opponents play. Observe your opponents, and check there hole cards on every showdown. If the player on the left is a tight-passive player, your positioning is perfect to make a try.
Besides this is also important to know how your opponent plays after the flop. If your up against a player that keeps on calling (so called calling-station), it’s probably not a good idea to try a steal.
Stealing from a callling-station or aggresive player
When the player on your left is one of the above, it’s hard to steal his blinds. But not impossible. You need to create an tight image. Yes i know this is hard for some players, but sometimes there is no other option 
. Since the players see you as a tight player, you get more respect for your raises. Even aggresive players will think twice before calling your raise.
The best position
Normally you would say the dealer-position is the best position to make the steal. But since this is wellknown nowadays, this position has changed to the position to the right of the dealer button. Keep in mind that a raise on the button is not as powerfull anymore, especially on higher limits you will be punished if you don’t have the right image.
How to handle a reraise
Imagine, you raise in LP to pick up the blinds and you get re-raised by the
What to do after the flop?
If you get a caller on your blind steal, it’s normally the first time you take a good look to your hole cards. Your hand is now important, if you have hit the flop, we would advise the keep playing this hand aggresive. Else a laydown is not a bad option at all. Remember that if this hand comes to a showdown and you show crap, your tight image is totally wasted. People will remember your last hand and blind stealing is probably not an option for you anymore..
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