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Stealing the blinds in cash games

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Thursday November, 26th 2009 by fullhouse

One of the easiest ways to pile up earnings in cash games is through the steady ability to steal the blinds. What poker players often fail to realize is that the majority of profits don’t typically come from huge pots that someone wins; they are instead a result of many small pots won over very long periods of time. Sometimes players will even understand this and still neglect to maximize their profits through stealing blinds. Another common misconception in poker is that stealing the blinds is hard to do. This could not be further from the truth. Stealing the blinds in a cash game can be one of the most systematic approaches to poker out there. It is quite simple to follow easy guidelines that will allow you to see the money come rolling in. The difference between this promise of success in poker and almost any other guaranteed method of success in poker lies in the idea of making small amounts instead over long periods of time instead of large amounts over short periods of time. Every poker player is naturally drawn to the allure of taking down a huge pot and instantly boosting their bankroll, but it usually takes thousands of hands before they realize the profitability to be found in stealing the blinds. It should be noted that stealing the blinds does not replace the ability for players to win huge pots, not at all. What stealing the blinds really does is afford players the ability to hang around long enough by winning small pots that they can be even more profitable when they win large pots. Some poker players only go after the big pots, some only go after the small pots, but the best poker players find a solid balance between large and small pots.

How to steal the blinds in cash games

The first step to stealing the blinds in cash games is being in the cutoff position, on the button, in the small blind, or in the big blind. The second step is having the other players fold around to you. If there are limpers or raisers ahead of you it is generally a good idea to simply abandon the idea of stealing. The reason that you should avoid a steal when other players are in the hand is because it will sometimes be a challenge to knock them out pre flop, which is of course your ultimate goal.
The third and final step to stealing the blinds is bet sizing. When in the cut off position you should simply raise to 3x BB, that is to say three times the big blind. For example, if you are playing .50/1 and are in the cutoff position your raise when stealing the blinds would be $3. For the other three remaining positions you will simply adjust your raise size to 2.5x BB. The reason for the decrease in the size of your raise is the decrease in the amount of players that you will have to knock out in order to take the pot down. There is no use in raising much more than these amounts as you will be risking money unnecessarily those times where you are re raised.