Is blind stealing worth the risk in limit hold'em?

Often in a game when everyone folds around to the button I see players raise. I assume that a significant percentage of the time these players are raising to try to steal the blinds without a "legitmate" raising hand.

I understand that in a tournament situation, when blinds and antes are up for grabs, that this is a reasonable play. But in a limit hold'em ring game you are risking two bets to win one and a half. Add to that the fact that in small stakes games this play rarely works anyway. To me this play doesn't make much sense.

Am I wrong? If so why?

Thanks,

c0rnbread

[x2ski]

[ QUOTE ]
Often in a game when everyone folds around to the button I see players raise. I assume that a significant percentage of the time these players are raising to try to steal the blinds without a "legitmate" raising hand.

I understand that in a tournament situation, when blinds and antes are up for grabs, that this is a reasonable play. But in a limit hold'em ring game you are risking two bets to win one and a half. Add to that the fact that in small stakes games this play rarely works anyway. To me this play doesn't make much sense.

Am I wrong? If so why?

Thanks,

c0rnbread

[/ QUOTE ]

The way I think about it is that when I'm "stealing" in limit hold'em, I am raising a "legitimate hand" given my guaranteed position for the rest of the hand (quasi-guaranteed from the CO).

I'm not raising with absolute crap. I know some players are, but I'm not.

Unfortunately, poker is generally a battle for the blinds.

There are plenty of discussions on this. Try doing a search about it. Here's a good one for starters:

Sort of a general thought about stealing blinds

[MyTurn2Raise]

educated blind stealing/ blind defense is worth almost 1BB/100 hands at the 2/4 party IMO...seems like a big deal to me

[Bodhi]

Yes, it's profitable because you steal with hands that stand to be better (on average) than the crap your opponents call with. I make .41BB/hand while blind stealing over 43k hands in my most recent database.