Blind stealing overrated?

[celiboy]

I've been trying to steal more blinds the last 1 - 2000 hands with some success although I'm wondering how much of a difference to ones winrate blind stealing makes. My last 10500 hands I have had 595 opportunities to steal blinds. This is 5.6%, so lets say we have 6 opportunities out of 100 to steal blinds. If we attempt to steal 25% of the time, this is 1.5 times out of 100 and of course not all steals will be succesful. Also, often when we steal we are normally gaining less than a big bet (the small and big blind). Can we say that stealing blinds is at best gaining us 0.5 bb/100 to our winrate? This question came to me after losing some big hands after being a bit too aggressive on blind steals where I end up contributing 3 or 4 BB's after my steal attempt.

[Ianco15]

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Can we say that stealing blinds is at best gaining us 0.5 bb/100 to our winrate?

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If this is true then I don't see how you can think blind stealing is overrated. +0.5bb/100 is a very nice boost. Blind stealing increases in importance as the stakes raise and players in general are tighter.

[shant]

Nah.

Every hand starts w/ a contest for the blinds. The better the players the more evident this is and more important it becomes to steal/defend well.

For me at least, it depends on the game. In a really loose game its very hard to steal the blinds since your so likely to be called. If your in a tight game you might be able to steal the blinds a lot more with aggressive play. Doyle Brunson said "when the game is tight play loose and when its loose play tight" (paraphrase)

[bicyclekick]

Blind stealing is soooooooo not overrated.

[crunchy1]

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This question came to me after losing some big hands after being a bit too aggressive on blind steals where I end up contributing 3 or 4 BB's after my steal attempt.

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Sounds like its your technique that needs some work.

[RED_RAIN]

I assume you play below 10/20.

Once you get higher, it's a lot of stealing. At 30/60 and 50/100 it's constant.

Also flip side, if you are always folding your blind to raise from CO-1, CO, and button, you are giving up tons.

[adamstewart]

Remember that essentially every single poker hand starts out as a battle for the blinds. In other words, at the start of a hand, there is no money to win except the blinds. Accordingly, whenever you open a pot, every bet you invest is an attempt to win (your share of) the blinds.

This becomes especially important as you move up through the higher stakes.


Adam

[TexArcher]

It's not overrated at all, blind stealing and defending are among the most important aspects of the game.