Re: Re-stealing
This is probably not optimal, and one should always try to know the players at your table, etc., etc., but here are some loose guidelines that I've been using lately that seem to help me decide when to resteal.
I'm assuming a Stars tourney format, and I'm also only considering situations when you are in the BB, and the raiser has opened from the SB, button, CO, or CO+1. If the raiser has opened in a position earlier than CO+1, I do not consider restealing with weaker hands.
1. Your stack, and the stack of the raiser, need to be relatively deep, but not too deep: if one of you is sitting with 10-15 BBs then a resteal has less folding equity because it often is correct for him to call based on pot odds. Also, if both of you are among the chip leaders, it is probably wise to avoid a confrontation, unless you have a premium hand (you are OOP, and with a lot of chips you can afford to wait for a better spot). So, I like it when each of you has between 20 and 40 BBs.
2. The blinds are meaningful. In Stars tourneys this is usually when the antes have begun, especially starting with the 200-400 w/ante level and beyond.
3. This is the raisers 1st play at taking your blind. In other words, if he has not open raised your BB previously, I let the 1st one go. Basically, I am giving myself a chance to get some kind of line on my opponents play. Example: Button raises the 1st time, I fold. The next orbit it is folded to him on the button . . . his action now will tell me something (albeit in a very general sense) about his play. If he folds, well, he must have some kind of minimum hand range for raising the blinds. If he raises again, it is more likely that he may think he has found an open cookie jar (we folded last time, perhaps we will again), so I go through my guidelines and make a decision.
Often, I can't meet the criteria for a resteal on the 2nd raise, so I fold again. By the time he raises a 3rd time, I can be fairly certain he isn't on big hands every time, and the resteal has a good chance of success. Also, the blinds have usually been raised, so if I gave up a 400 BB and a 600 BB, and then resteal at the 400-800 level, I will likely win about 2400 in chips when successful, more than making up for the other blinds I gave up.
4. Your hand: after thinking about 1,2,3, I consider my hand strength. I'm sort of flexible here though. I think others have spoken about how it is better to have 76s, than A8o, because of the chance of being dominated, and I agree with this.
However, I consider #3 when taking into account my hand selection - if a guy has stolen from me 4 times in a row, and I meet 1,2,3 above, then it might be a good time to resteal with anything. Conversely, if this is a guys 2nd steal attempt, I will not steal with 73o, I need a suited connector, or something of value. (I am not considering when you actually pick up a real hand in the BB, such as AK, because then the other criteria in this post don't really matter as much - you will end up playing on hand strength alone).
These are very loose guidelines, I know, but this is what I have been using, with decent success. Of course, go with your reads, watch your players, you can often pick up on who will fold to a big reraise and who will not. Guidelines are not a magic formula.
Another thought: keep in mind guideline #3 is very subjective, and that by watching the table, you should be able to pick up on players patterns a lot more quickly than by just paying attention to who is stealing your blinds. Perhaps player X has stolen the BB of the guy to your right 5 times now, but hasn't made a play at your blinds (because there has always been someone else open raising before it got to him), but now tries to steal when it is folded to him . . . well, this is his 1st steal attempt on you, but you know how he is playing and should act accordingly.
Hope this post makes sense, and is helpful in some way. Please point out any flaws in my thinking - I'm not an expert by any means.
Be good,
Augie
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