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Specifically, if I am first in from MP or later I will sometimes make a mini raise with AA/KK/(less often with)QQ to encourage action.

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I could justify this if they were super aggressive early in the game. What's interesting is that as the blinds climb people start getting trigger happy, even the really tight passive players will push here when they're short.

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My mini raises have so far gotten a lot of respect the few times I have tried them in STT's.

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Related to this is min raise blind stealing. In the past when its folded to me on button/sb I would steal by raising pretty hard, this usually works but it's risking more than necessary to do over and over. I say this because after a couple folds I could safely assume that this particular player is a bit on the passive side. So recently, if Ive already established this about him, I'll back off on the amount I raise to steal so it looks like a min raise.

Its ironic really, a min-raise might look like a steal to an agro player but to passive player it looks like a decent hand (unless they're shortstacked).