Do you guys have a "time" to start to steal?

[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.

[Solitare]

My rule of thumb -- When the blinds are 5% of my stack.

Lets say I have t1000. I don't usually steal at the 10/15 or 15/30 levels, but would start stealing at the 25/50 level. But I'm flexible. A hand like 98s in CO I'll stael at 10/15, although what I'm really playing for is the possibility of a sweet implied odds situation.

For pure stealing situations, like K6o in the CO for instance, I don't bother until the blinds are 5% of my stack.

[ZBTHorton]

On Stars, I begin stealing as soon as ante's are involved.

On Party, I begin stealing right after the first break.

I've been wondering this for a while - could someone give the exact definition and origin of the term shania? I see it thrown around a bit on here, and I gather it has something to do with your image, but I'm not sure what it is.

[ansky451]

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I've been wondering this for a while - could someone give the exact definition and origin of the term shania? I see it thrown around a bit on here, and I gather it has something to do with your image, but I'm not sure what it is.

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It's in the anthology, its basically meta-game. IE if you only raise UTG with AA, people will fold KK behind you. If you raise 23o or AA they will play their kings... It's establishing an image based on your previous actions.