Stealing Blinds

[Your Mom]

Give me some guidelines on what hands you use to steal the blinds. I have a case of trying to steal too much. Blinds call me with all kinds of crap and I end up losing a majority of the time I steal. I play 1-2 up to 3-6 mostly at Party/Empire. I try stealing with the suited connectors down to 8,7 and any 2 big cards along with pairs. Too loose I take it? Let me know.

[Vehn]

That's about right though some will toss the suited connectors. If you find you're not making money by your button steals tighten up some and toss hands like JTo (and worse)

[Your Mom]

Okay, I guess since I've been running bad maybe I was playing too loose. Hopefully, it will even out for me. Thanks for the response.

[Bob T.]

That sounds about right to me, but I am wondering how you play these hands postflop. After you have raised, and you get either called or reraised, it isn't a tiny pot, and you have to make good decisions about whether to continue, and how to continue. I think it might be time to post some hands. I know in another thread a poster asked about steal/defense situations, help us out, and put some hands out to discuss.

[Vehn]

I think the reason most decent/aggressive players don't win much trying to blind steal is they tend to treat it like they open raised in early or mid position. Generally you just need to give up more often. For example, you open raise on the button with QTo and the BB calls. Flop is J 7 4. The BB checks and calls your bet. If the turn is a brick you should frequently give up and check behind, whereas if you had AK on that board and had raised from an early position you would frequently bet the turn. People don't expect you to have a real hand and won't give up that easy - don't throw your money away at a tiny pot with no hand and very little chance of winning unimproved (non aces/pairs). A lot of people myself included don't like to check the turn ever while heads up when the flop was just called but in these situations you have to. Of course this is player dependant blah blah blah bluffing blah blah blah.

[Your Mom]

Your last two posts are exactly what I was looking for. I think Vehn is right in that I have King, Jack or Queen, Ten and think since it is a good hand I should keep betting. I have lost quite a bit of money this way. I am going to try to tighten up after the flop and see if this helps. Bob- I agree that I should post some hands to illustrate my problems. I will write a few down during the next week or so and post them. I look forward to any advice both of you guys can give me. Thanks.