Steal
also called blind steal
A steal is a raise from one of the last seats made mainly to win the blinds uncontested rather than because the hand is strong.
The arithmetic is simple and adds up quickly. Raising to 2.5 big blinds to win 1.5 needs the blinds to fold 62.5% of the time to break even on its own, and hands that are called still win their share of the pots that follow.
It only works if the blinds actually fold, so the adjustment matters more than the ranges. Against players who defend widely the steal range should tighten, and against players who fold too much almost any two cards are enough.
an example
your cards
Everyone folds to you on the button and you raise with queen eight offsuit. The hand is not strong, and it does not need to be: the blinds fold most of the time, and when they do not you still have position for the rest of the hand.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find steal in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
Button
The button is the disc marking which seat is treated as the dealer for that hand, and it moves one place to the left aft ...
Blinds
The blinds are the two forced bets posted before any cards are dealt, by the two players to the left of the button, so t ...
Open raise
An open raise is the first voluntary raise of a hand, made when everyone before you has folded and nobody has yet put mo ...
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Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
Forty hands against a bot, no account, and your own hand history at the end.