Caught stealing with 76o. Tighten up?

[Unarmed]

Extremely tight 5+0.50 Stars table, blinds 100-200
I'm at t4000 and have been stealing with pretty much any 2 on the button or SB with great success until I run up against the short stack (t1000) in the SB with AK.

I don't get lucky and the whole table (5 opp) starts doing a victory dance because they caught the bully. Of course, I just showed 76o and two of them say, "Good, now we know he's bluffing."

Should I tighten up here or just continue stealing? I was sucked out 2 hands later but I wasn't sure what my plan should be.

[gotham]

probably makes sense to be more selective at this point: i'd primarily focus on those less likely to defend and avoid those who seemed to be most interested in "picking off a bully".

it probably wouldn't hurt to lift your raising standards as well but don't feel like you need to limit yourself to big pairs or big aces. as long as your stack is sufficiently bigger than that of the person you're raising, your raises should still have considerable folding equity despite your loose image.

[xerostar]

I think stealing is an art that requires a lot of precision and timing. That being said, I usually follow some rules before I go for a steal.

1) If the person is tight, I mean extremely tight and will only wait for AA, then steal all the time.

2) If one of the people you're stealing against has a small stack, be wary, unless you're willing to call his all-in. You can still steal, but only raise to an appropriate amount that will allow you to fold if you're holding trash.

The most important thing is of course the read...your cards aren't that important because stealing is inducing a fold preflop, and with good cards you might want a call...Also important is YOUR chip stack, if you have 4000 chips and you're trying to steal a 500 chip small stack with blinds at 100/200, just gamble and take 60/40 flip if you want.

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]


You can still steal, but only raise to an appropriate amount that will allow you to fold if you're holding trash.


[/ QUOTE ]

Of course, if you decide to do this, make sure your legit hands are also raised the same amount.

[willie]

after being caught, i would tend to tighten up a bit. i wouldn't become a rock since with a stack it's so easy to pick off blinds and rebuild your stack, but you have to raise your standards above 76 off quite a bit.

the good thing about the table seeing this is that once you shift gears and tighten up, they're going to pay you off suspecting a bluff.