[Sam T.]

My favorite cop-out: It Depends.

It depends in part on what you mean by "steal". If you have a look at Strassa's hand with the masters you see him raising in LP with a lowish suited one-gap. It's hardly a premium hand (even by his standards), but is it a steal? No, because the blinds are still as valuable as a once-chewed M&M at this point. But raising here makes Shania happy, and if you can flop a monster with a well-disguised hand, well good for you. So at this point (early) it doesn't make much sense to raise with complete garbage, but if you are comfortable with post-flop play raising with respectable holdings is fine. (Just don't go broke with your KTo on a Kxx board.)

It depends on stack size. Yours, of course, but also the villains'. If you or the players in the blinds are sitting at 10 or fewer BB, sometimes stealing with garbage is not such a good idea. If it's you your only bet can be a push, and if it's the villain, you pretty much have to call a push from him. (While pushing 72o on the button with 8BB is fine in many cases, I would not want to be raising shorty with that hand unless I have a read on him as super-tight.)

All things being equal, however, I think the second hour is when: a) the blinds are high enough to be worth winning and there is less chance that a BB will call just cause it's fun see flops; b) Loose calling stations are gone, so there is a chance someone will fold.

Also, don't be afraid to steal from the CO+1. I actually prefer this seat to the button. It is less "obvious" of a steal, and thus less likely to get played back at.