I never make an out and out blind steal.

[Skuzzy]

the risk:reward seems skewed to me. betting 4BB to win 1.5.
From the CO/BUTTON I only play legitimate hands. I will raise them all rather than limp but I don't add to my hand range anything that I wouldn't play from middle position.

Am I giving up too much?

[element00]

me neither, anyone else play blind stealing different?

[Robfish]

I started to focus on stealing the blinds more often from the CO and button with any 2 cards. I play $50 NL and it seems to work more often then not and if you get called a pot size bet on the flop will take it down most of the time

Obviously you can notice the players this wont work against pretty quickly but all the blind steals do add up and i think you should at least try to blind steal more often for one session and note the results

[djoyce003]

I'd think so....I do it mainly because any two are playable in excellent position against just the blinds, and it tends to get you more action later....they are actually making big mistakes by defending with bad hands against you and I find that when I finally pick up a real hand sometimes i'll get insane action.

[Skuzzy]

Any two? I think I need to loosen up more then, but that kind of loose scares the crap out of me. I get the 'idea' that position rules in NL but i cant bring myself to believe that its really that important.

Maybe i'll play some 25NL raising my position on any two for a few 1000 hands just to see.

You're missing out. While the initial risk/reward is kinda crappy, think of all the times a continuation bet takes it down. At the $2 NL games my blind steal can reach as high as 40%, sometimes more while my VPIP stays sane 25% and PFR of 12.5%. If there is tightie (sub 20 VPIP) I'm stealing quite a lot. Of course, I try and gain an image at the table to make TAGs not want to play with me.

BTW, my steal success is nearly 51% (no flop seen) and won without a showdown of 70%.

[Isura]

[ QUOTE ]

the risk:reward seems skewed to me. betting 4BB to win 1.5.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can raise 3xbb sometimes too.

[savman]

u should look to target players u can steal from and consider game conditions. if u have some players on your table who ARE SEEING A FLOP then calling down, then do not. however, if u have players who have tight pf ranges, especially those in the blinds when u are button/co, then steal away with any two when it is folded. exercise some common sense. if a calling maching limps utg, then open with a range for value, etc.