Stealing. Many questions of how, when ...

[elmitchbo]

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On that note, NEVER OPEN RAISE MORE THAN THREE TIMES THE BIG BLIND. I see so many people open raise so much more than they have to. At the 1k/2k level, if someone is folding for an extra 4k, they will almost always fold for an extra 3k. Don't be throwing extra money out there. It makes it much easier to fold to a reraise because the odds don't drag you in and it hurts a lot less when you have to fold. It also lets you make much smaller bets after the flop. It's all about pot control.

I think, actually, something that a lot of people on 2+2 could work on better (instead of stealing, something which people do frequently but should pick their spots better in) is defending your blinds. People say "It's not your money, it's in the pot already." It's still money that you could be playing for. A lot of people in MTT's raise far too much late in a tournament. There are people who raise 9x the big blind for no reason. I recommend staying away from these people without a real hand. On the other hand, there are some people who minraise or do a smaller raise of about 3x the big blind. I love these people. When you're in the big blind, I recommend defending against a minraise with almost any two cards, and against a 3x raise I will call with suited one gappers, any pair, suited aces, big kings, hands like JT, and against some people when the blinds are large I call raises with things like J6o out of the blinds just because I can take the pot away from people.

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you completely contradict yourself in those two paragraphs.

you say not to make a big raise on a steal, then you turn right around and say don't fold your blinds to anything but a big raise. you say if he raises 9x i'll have to fold anything but a monster.......but if he just raises 3x i'll call with this whole list of hands! that's exactly why you make a big raise. you're not the only one that expands his calling range.

your other argument for making a smaller raise is the fear of being reraised. that is also backward logic. you can't make a smaller raise because it makes it easier to fold to a reraise.

what you're doing with a larger raise is making it harder for your opponent to call and even harder for him to reraise. you want to force your opponent to make a decision for a large chunk of chips if he wants to come over the top. in later stages of a tourney you migth be able to accomplish that with a 3xBB raise because that might equal 30%-50% of your opponents stack. the point then isn't the 3x raise it's the pressure you put on your opponent. after all... if your stealing the point is not to get called. try sticking in 4x or 5xBB and see how it works.

as far as controlling the pot... in a steal situation where you're making a larger bet it won't be a concern because you're going to make him fold with a big bet. who wants to make small bets after the flop anyway? keep the pressure on.