Learn Play Poker

Stealing the blinds is a great way of giving your chips a nice little boost every now and again. If you are persistent with this, not only will it put you in a powerful position, but it will portray you as something to be feared in the eyes of the other players.

If you are unfamiliar with the term – stealing blinds is to take all of the initial obligatory bets that compose the initial pot. Stealing the blinds allows you to win extra chips without much of a challenge as well as make the other players feel unsure of themselves.

So how do you steal the blinds? You do this by making all of your opponents fold after putting down their initial obligatory bets before the flop. To do this you must aggressively raise. Doing so should intimidate the other players enough so that they won’t take their chances against your supposedly invincible hand.

There are strategies for doing this – different position can offer advantages or disadvantages for pulling this off. If you’re in a later position. Then you can do this more effectively. If you play first right after the big and small blinds, than your potential profit from such a move are diminished greatly. The big blind is the ideal position from which to do this, as you can pull this off with most effectiveness when it’s your turn after every one has put down the blinds.

There are certain situations in which doing this can be even more effective. If you are the short stack (you have the least amount of chips), than it would be smart to go all in and give everyone the impression that you’ve finally got an unbeatable hand that you’re willing to sacrifice the rest of the game for.

Using this strategy all the time isn’t advised. The other players will eventually catch on and will start calling you. Furthermore, it’s usually considered an impolite way of playing, so doing this over and over will get the other players hostile towards you.
You should be selective of the blinds you attempt to steal – do this only when it will really help you.