Miami John is Coming to Steal Your Blinds

Filed in archive Poker Strategies on December 8, 2007

As I'm currently going thru the second and third hours of a couple of multi-table tourneys and running low on chips due to some unfortunate turns at the table. Of course pushing with any two cards "ATC" comes into play as the blinds represent a large chunk of my increasingly smaller stack. The antes plus sizable blinds become a great way to increase your stack without having those messy board cards come up.

Position and size of your stack play a big part in the ability to pick off blinds without looking at the value of your hand. Of course there's player's notes, buy in amount, and what you ate for lunch to consider as well.

Miami John Cernuto recently dropped by Full Tilt Poker for his words on the subject of stealing blinds in a tourney here's a bite from the article, read the whole thing by following the link:

...Throughout a tournament, everyone develops a table image that impacts how people play against them. Depending on your opponent's style of play �' and how your opponent perceives you �' you might be able to play back at someone who is trying to steal your blinds from late position. As mentioned earlier, this is especially useful later in tournaments when the blinds are much bigger and antes come into play.

You always have the option of re-stealing at anytime in a tournament, but this isn't a move you should make without some careful consideration. For example, if you're worried about your opponent calling your re-steal attempt, I recommend not even attempting this play unless you're holding a hand no worse than A-9. Preferably, you're looking for something even stronger...