.jpg "The Ultimate Blind Stealing Cheat Sheet")
This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.
Blind stealing is often overlooked, but an important aspect of the preflop poker strategy.
Incorporating blind stealing into your preflop arsenal is a great way to mix up your game and make yourself more difficult to play against.
It’s also a good way to pick up a few easy pots, even if you don’t have a particularly strong hand.
This article will show you everything you need to know about successful blind stealing, whether you’re a tournament or cash game player.
Let’s get right into it.
1. Why Blind Stealing is Important in Poker
At its core, poker is all about blind stealing. Without the blinds to stimulate the action, all the players would simply wait around for pocket Aces to put any money into the pot.
The blinds give players the reason to fight for pots and put additional money in the middle. If they don’t, their stack size would slowly start to dwindle after each orbit.
To blind steal means to open-raise from the late table positions (the cutoff, the button, and the small blind) with the intention of getting your opponents to fold.
You are only blind stealing if you are the first player to enter the pot. If another player open-limps in front of you, for example, your open-raise would not be considered a blind steal.
To open-limp means to just pay the big blind instead of open-raising when you’re the first player to enter the pot.
Open-limping is usually a telltale sign of recreational poker players.
I won’t get into all the details on why you shouldn’t open-limp here.
This is one of the 5 amateur poker mistakes that poker noobs are still making these days though.
But for the purposes of this article, you shouldn’t open-limp because you obviously can’t steal the blinds this way.
Open-limping gives your opponents no incentive to fold their hand, and you run the risk of getting raised yourself.
So if you’re the first player to enter the pot, do so with an open-raise.
By open-raising from the late position, you can often get the players in the blinds to fold and pick up a few easy pots.
Now, you might think there’s no point in fighting for one and a half big blind.
But it’s not the size of the prize, but the sheer frequency that makes blind stealing so profitable.
For example, if you’re playing a 6-max cash game online, you have 3 potential blind stealing opportunities per orbit.
If you only blind steal once per orbit, this can add up tremendously over the long run.
Of course, you will rarely actually have 3 opportunities for blind stealing, since another player can potentially open-raise before you.
But the point still stands.
The bottom line is that blind stealing is a quick and easy way to improve your winrate without needing to make a lot of huge adjustments to your overall strategy.
It’s also one of easy ways to gradually transition from a tight and aggressive (TAG) playstyle to a more loose and aggressive (LAG) playstyle.
In fact, the best poker players will master both of these playstyles and mix up their game between them, depending on the situation.
This is something I discussed in my recent video, 5 Signs of an ELITE Level Poker Player.
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Now that we’ve covered the importance of blind stealing, let’s get to the actual meat of the topic on how to blind steal successfully.
2. Blind Steal More When Playing in Position
We’ve already established that a blind stealing attempt consists of open-raising from the cutoff, the button and the small blind.
However, between these 3 table positions, some are more conducive to successful blind stealing than others.
The button is the best position for blind stealing, and it’s the most profitable table position overall.
That’s because you will always have a positional advantage post flop when playing on the button.
That’s because you will always have a positional advantage post flop when playing on the button.
So there are 2 reasons why stealing attempts on the button are so profitable:
a) your opponents are more likely to fold to stealing attempts, since they are playing out of position
b) even if your opponents don’t fold, you will often be able to win the pot post flop one way or another.
You can either make a strong hand and bet for value, your can try to take down the pot with a light c-bet.
A light c-bet (or a bluff c-bet) is a continuation bet made with the intention of getting your opponent to fold.
When you’re playing on the button, you can often get away with playing an extremely wide range.
A lot of players simply don’t utilize the power of position as much as they could, which leads them to miss out on a ton of +EV spots.
The cutoff (the seat on the direct right of the button) is a slightly different story.
The cutoff should be the second most profitable seat for you overall. If you’re using a free poker HUD you can check these stats yourself.
But the cutoff won’t be as profitable for blind stealing for 2 reasons:
a) now there’s 3 players left to go through instead of 2, which means it’s more likely for at least one of them to have a hand worth playing.
b) the player on the button can call (or 3-bet you), thus denying you the opportunity to play in position post flop.
This means you need to be a bit more selective with your blind stealing attempts, and play a tighter range on average.
This is especially the case if the player on your left is an aware and aggressive regular who can adjust to your rampant blind stealing by calling and 3-betting you.
If the players left to act are observant enough and likely to 3-bet you, you should tighten up your range and blind steal less (more about your opponent’s tendencies below).
However, if the player on your left is very tight and unlikely to adjust their game, you can get away with stealing with a wider range on the cutoff.
In fact, having a very tight player on your left is great for your overall profitability as well.
Just like you would want to have a fishy player on your right, you want to have a nitty player on your left.
A nit is a player that usually plays very straightforwardly and is very tight. These players usually play a very predictable ABC poker and rarely (if ever) go out of line with some crazy bluffs.
Having a tight player on your left is great because it makes it more likely for you to play in position post flop when open-raising from the cutoff.
Tight players are also more likely to fold to stealing attempts when you’re stealing from the button or the small blind.
This means you get to treat the cutoff as the “second button”, and play a wider range than you normally would.
Conversely, if the player on your left is very aggressive, you should tighten up your ranges so they don’t punish your open raises by 3-betting liberally.
In fact, if you play poker online and have a very aggressive opponent on your left, it’s best to simply get up and switch tables.
Otherwise, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle throughout your whole session.
In poker, the money always flows from players playing out of position to players playing in position.
So when playing against an aggressive player out of position, you can expect to lose money over the long run, no matter how well you’re playing.
The positional (dis)advantage is so strong in poker there’s no way to totally overcome it, so it’s best not to get involved in these spots altogether if it can be helped.
Of course, you don’t always have the luxury of switching seats (if you’re playing poker live or if you’re playing in a tournament).
If that’s the case, the best you can do is play in a way that doesn’t allow the aggressive player to make any huge exploits against you.
This means playing in a balanced manner.
When it comes to blind stealing, being balanced means not stealing so often it gives the player the incentive to punish you by 3-betting, yet stealing often enough so you don’t miss out on potential +EV stealing spots.
Finally, the last table position you can potentially blind steal from is the small blind.
Blind stealing from the small blind is different from CO and BU blind stealing because:
a) now you’re playing out of position relative to the player in the big blind and
b) now there’s only one opponent left to go through
This makes stealing from the small blind tricky since:
a) you can’t steal with as wide a range since you will be playing out of position if your opponent calls you
But...
b) you can steal with a wider range since you only need to get one opponent to fold.
Blind Stealing Example Hand #1
You are dealt J♥7♥ on the BU (button).
You: ???
You should open-raise to 2.5 BB.
While playing a hand like Jack-Seven suited may get you in trouble in other table positions, it's perfectly fine to open-raise it on the button.
This is assuming the players in the blinds aren't likely to punish you by aggressively 3-betting.
A hand like J7s also has decent playability post flop, with the ability to make both straights and flushes.
If you want to know the EXACT ranges to blind steal from each position, check out The Microstakes Playbook.
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3. Blind Steal With Playable Hands
While blind stealing can be very profitable, especially against certain types of players, you shouldn’t just try to blind steal with any two random cards.
That’s because you will get called from time to time, so it’s important only to blind steal with hands that have at least some playability post flop.
Fortunately, when it comes to blind stealing, you can have relatively lax standards with starting hand selection.
This is especially the case if you’re playing on the button, since your opponents will be more likely to fold to your stealing attempts.
When playing on the button, you can often get away with open-raising hands that would equate to EV suicide from other table positions.
Example hands you can blind steal with on the button:
A♦3♣
T♦7♦
K♥5♥
The list goes on.
When playing on the button, you can often get away with open-raising as much as 40%, or even close to 50% of hands in some cases.
It’s worth noting, however, that this only applies if you’re looking to blind steal.
When blind stealing, your hand strength (or lack thereof) is often irrelevant.
What matters more is your opponent’s playing tendencies, namely how often they fold to blind stealing attempts.
Still, you want to choose hands that can flop something decent at least some of the time.
For example, all the Ax hands have the ability to make a top pair post flop, so they make for decent blind stealing hands.
For example, let’s look at a range of Ace-Nine offsuit through Ace-Two offsuit (abbr. A9o-A2o).
I’ve omitted stronger Ax hands as well as suited Aces for the sake of example, since you would normally play these hands, anyway.
A range of A9o-A2o will flop a top pair 16.5% of the time, and will completely smash the flop 3.63% of the time.
To smash the flop means to connect with the flop in a strong manner, making two pair or better.
It will also flop an inside straight draw and an open-ended straight draw 10.8% and 2.21% of the time, respectively.
So even though these hands may not make you a ton of money over the long run, they will still flop something decently strong some of the time.
Similarly, some hands like one-gappers, two-gappers, connectors, suited Kings, suited Queens etc. make for decent blind stealing candidates.
Hands like these also have decent nuts potential, meaning you can sometimes take down a huge pot if you happen to flop a monster hand.
On top of that your opponent will have a hard time putting you on your exact hand, meaning it will be easier for you to extract value from weaker hands.
Blind Stealing Example Hand #2
$1/$2 Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB
You are dealt 8♠7♦ on the BU (button).
You: ???
You should open-raise to $5.
Calling with a hand like this preflop can often get you in a lot of trouble, but there’s nothing wrong with open-raising it on the button.
The hand is far from totally unplayable, and with only two players left to act, you can open-raise it profitably, especially if the players in the blinds are likely to fold a lot.
Even if you get called, you’ll be playing in position post flop with a decent speculative hand.
And if you smash the flop with a two pair hand or even a straight, you can often get paid off, because your opponent will have a hard time putting you on your exact hand.
87o will smash the flop 4.78% of the time, and will flop an inside straight draw and an open-ended straight draw 26.5% and 9.71% of the time, respectively.
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4. Blind Steal Against Tight and Passive Players
Blind stealing is one of the easiest ways to print EV over the long run, but it’s only profitable against certain types of opponents.
Remember, the goal of blind stealing is to get your opponents to fold preflop.
This means that blind stealing is only profitable if your opponents are actually capable of folding.
In other words, you should be careful when trying to steal blinds from recreational players, since they are less likely to fold to your stealing attempts.
Recreational poker players (aka the fish) are notorious for playing way too many hands preflop and calling down too much, neither of which is conducive to successful blind stealing.
With that in mind, you can still open-raise from the late positions with a wider range against fish, since they are likely to call you down with a lot of worse hands.
Playing in position as a preflop aggressor against recreational players is just about the most profitable spot in no limit hold’em, period.
So you should definitely look for opportunities to get involved in pots like these.
When it comes to blind stealing, though, it’s better to target weak and tight regular players, especially when you’re playing in position.
Here are a few key factors you should look for when blind stealing:
a) steal wider against tight players
This one’s fairly self-explanatory. The less hands a player plays on average, the more likely they are to fold to stealing attempts.
Ideally, you want to target nits who play very tight ranges preflop.
Check out my other article on how to absolutely crush the nitty poker players by the way.
b) look for players who fold too much to stealing attempts
This is arguably the most important factor to consider when it comes to blind stealing.
If your opponent folds to steals 8 or even 9 times out of 10, you can basically steal their blinds with any two cards.
If you’re using a good hand tracking software, you can add a “Fold to Steal” (FTS) stat to your HUD to check how often your opponent folds to stealing attempts.
c) blind steal wider against players who aren’t likely to 3-bet
Aside from targeting tight players, you should also target passive players who aren’t likely to fight back for their blinds.
In other words, you want to look for players who don’t 3-bet a lot.
Competent regs will usually adjust to rampant blind stealing by throwing out an occasional light 3-bet, or they will call your open-raise with a wider range, especially if they’re playing in position.
If the players in the blinds are aggressive 3-bettors, it’s better to tighten up your range and be more selective with your blind stealing attempts.
d) blind steal against fit-or-fold players
No matter how well-thought-out your blind stealing attempts, they’re still going to get called from time to time.
That’s why it’s useful to have some sort of edge post flop, whether it’s positional advantage, decent cards, or some sort of skill edge.
When it comes to having a skill edge, you should look for players that tend to play a “fit-or-fold” style post flop.
This means they tend to give up fairly easily post flop if they miss the flop, which will happen most of the time.
Against these players, you can c-bet the flop with a very high frequency and expect them to fold most of the time, especially if the board texture is very dry.
When you’re c-betting the flop with the intention of getting your opponent to fold, this is called a light c-bet.
For more info on light c-betting, check out my ultimate flop strategy guide.
e) blind steal against oblivious players
Finally, you don’t want to go overboard with blind stealing, because you don’t want to make it too obvious to other players.
It’s better to throw out an occasional blind steal and do it for a long time, than to do it at every opportunity and allow your opponents to adjust and exploit you.
With that in mind, some players won’t adjust their game at all, no matter how out of line you get.
These players are likely to be passive fish or very weak regulars, and they’re ideal targets for blind stealing.
5. Use Smaller Bet Sizing for Blind Stealing
Finally, let’s discuss the bet sizing you should use when blind stealing.
The standard open-raise is 3 big blinds. So if you’re playing a $1/$2 cash game, for example, the standard open raise would be $6.
You certainly can’t go wrong with using the standard open-raise size when blind stealing, as well.
However, you can also make slight adjustments to your open-raise size to make blind stealing more profitable.
You can decrease your open-raise size to 2.5 BB (or even 2 BB in some cases) to get yourself a better risk-to-reward ratio.
Decreasing your open-raise size reduces your required fold equity (or RFE for short).
RFE is another word for a breakeven percentage.
In other words, RFE tells you how often your opponents need to fold for you to break even on a certain action (in this case, how often they need to fold to your blind stealing attempts).
The formula for calculating RFE is simple: you divide the risk by the sum of risk and reward.
RFE = Risk / Risk + Reward
Where:
Risk = Open-raise size
Reward = Pot size
Now, let’s calculate the RFE for both 3 BB and 2.5 BB open-raise.
Let’s assume you’re blind stealing from the BU, so the pot size is 1.5 BB (big blind + small blind).
3 BB RFE = 3 / 3 + 1.5 = 67%
2.5 BB RFE = 2.5 / 2.5 + 1.5 = 62.5%
As you can see, decreasing your open-raise size by half a big blind reduces your RFE by 4.5%.
This may not seem like a big deal, but remember that poker is a game of razor thin margins, and this small edge adds up tremendously over the long run.
So decreasing your bet size can make blind stealing more profitable if your opponents are indifferent to your bet sizing.
To put it another way, if your opponents fold with the same frequency to different bet sizing.
It’s also worth noting that you usually don’t need the RFE outlined above to blind steal profitably.
That’s because playing on the button often allows you to win the pot post flop as well, given that you have the positional advantage and the initiative.
This means that you can either win the pot outright preflop, or win post flop by making the best hand or by making your opponents fold.
When stealing from the cutoff, it’s less likely you’ll win the pot outright preflop, since there are 3 opponents left to act instead of 2.
So decreasing your open-raise size to 2.5 is also a good idea, especially if you’re likely to face a 3-bet.
When stealing from the small blind, the RFE changes a bit, since now you only have 1 big blind to win, but you’re also forced to post half a blg blind.
So the RFE when stealing from the small blind looks like this:
3 BB RFE = 2.5 / 2.5 + 1 = 71%
2.5 BB RFE = 2 / 2 +1 = 67%
As you can see, blind stealing from the small blind is less profitable for a few reasons:
a) you now only have 1 BB to win as opposed to 1.5 BB you can win from the CO or BU and
b) you are forced to play out of position if the big blind calls.
However, one factor that makes stealing from the SB profitable is the fact that you have only one player left to beat.
So if the player in the big blind folds too much to stealing attempts, and isn’t likely to adjust by defending their big blind, you can still blind steal with quite a wide range.
There’s also the option of stealing with 2 big blinds, thus decreasing your RFE even further.
This can certainly be a viable strategy at times.
However, some regs may deem this as taking it too far, and may be compelled to start defending their blinds with a wider range or start 3-betting you more liberally.
This can still work if the players in the blinds are totally oblivious and aren’t likely to adjust their game.
But as a general rule, it’s better to stick with 3 BB or 2.5 BB open-raise in most cases.
For more info on preflop bet sizing, check out my ultimate preflop bet sizing cheat sheet.
The Ultimate Blind Stealing Cheat Sheet - Summary
You don’t have to learn a lot of advanced poker strategy to incorporate successful blind stealing into your preflop arsenal.
All you have to do is be on the lookout for potential blind stealing opportunities during your session.
Stealing a few blinds here and there may not seem like it’s worth the hassle, but it can add up tremendously over the long run.
To sum up, here’s everything you need to know about successful blind stealing.
1. Why is blind stealing important?
Blind stealing allows you to pick up a few easy pots even without a particularly strong hand.
It also makes it easier for you to extract value out of your opponents once you actually do wake up with pocket Aces on the button.
2. Blind steal more in position
You should do the majority of your blind stealing from the button. When playing on the button, you will always have positional advantage post flop.
This makes it more likely for your opponents to fold to your steal preflop, but even if they don’t, you’ll often be able to win the pot post flop due to the positional advantage.
3. Blind steal with playable hands
When blind stealing, your hand strength is often irrelevant, but it’s better to blind steal with hands that have at least some sort of playability post flop.
This means you shouldn’t blind steal with just any random hand, but with hands that have the ability to make strong pairs post flop, and/or hands that have decent nuts potential.
4. Blind steal against tight and passive players
Players who play tight ranges preflop are more likely to fold to your stealing attempts.
Remember, the point of blind stealing is to get a fold preflop, so it doesn’t make sense to blind steal against players who like to play a lot of hands (aka the recreational players).
5. Use smaller bet sizing when blind stealing
The standard open-raise is 3 BB, and you can certainly use it when blind stealing, as well.
However, reducing your open-raise size to 2.5 BB (or even 2 BB in some cases) gives you a better risk-to-reward ratio, and it reduces your opponent’s required fold equity.
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This article was written by Fran Ferlan
Poker player, writer and coach
Specializing in live and online cash games
For coaching enquiries, contact Fran at email@franferlan.com
Or apply directly for poker coaching with Fran, right here
Lastly, if you want to know the complete strategy I use to make $2000+ per month in small/mid stakes games, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.
