n00b question about stealing blinds from loose players.

[TJO]

In best case scenario the players on my left are weak/tight ones. But often I can not get the best seat and I'll have loose coldcallers on the blinds or even worse a maniac on my left (usually I'll change the table if this happens).

Pokerstove shows me that against a player with two random cards I have more than 50% equity with hands like:
22+,A2+,K2+,Q2s+,Q5o+,J6s+,J8o+,T7s+,T9o+,98s+. Also 65s,76s,97s and 86s are probably good enough because of the implied odds.

Am I not raising for value with these hands more than just stealing? They all have more than 50% equity against a single opponent and I will have position. So am I right to raise these hands everytime OTB even against loose opponents who don't usually surrender their blinds if I think I can play better postflop than they do?

Does it really matter what type of players are on the blinds in a steal situation as long as I'm a better player than they are?

(It would have taken forever to calculate the equities against two opponents with two random cards).

[kerowo]

If you steal consistantly you will eventually get played back at. You will need to know what to do when your weak ace is raised on the flop. I believe in the FAQ there is a mention on what a "target" blind steal percentage is.

[milesdyson]

Don't get so bogged down on terminology. Just remember that you want to play hands in position against bad players. So while they may not fold very often preflop (which is where you get most of your value from stealing against tight players), they will also play very poorly after the flop. This is where you make money "stealing" against loose, bad players. Just consider a "blind steal" as some way for Pokertracker to filter out specific hands based on your position preflop.

[TJO]

[ QUOTE ]
If you steal consistantly you will eventually get played back at. You will need to know what to do when your weak ace is raised on the flop. I believe in the FAQ there is a mention on what a "target" blind steal percentage is.

[/ QUOTE ]Yeah it's something between 30-40% and the range I put here is 50.8% so that's little too much. So I better range would be something like:
22+,A2s+,K2s+,Q5s+,J8s+,T8s+,97s+,86s+,76s,65s,A2o +,K6o+,Q8o+,J9o+,T9o
That's 42.1%.

[ QUOTE ]
Don't get so bogged down on terminology. Just remember that you want to play hands in position against bad players. So while they may not fold very often preflop (which is where you get most of your value from stealing against tight players), they will also play very poorly after the flop. This is where you make money "stealing" against loose, bad players. Just consider a "blind steal" as some way for Pokertracker to filter out specific hands based on your position preflop.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks miles! I think this cleared things up for me. So what you're saying is that I should always raise these hands even against loose opponents but it's more profitable against tight players because of the fold equity.

[NIX]

[ QUOTE ]
Does it really matter what type of players are on the blinds in a steal situation as long as I'm a better player than they are?

[/ QUOTE ]
If the blinds are worse players than you, yes you want to get involved with them. However, I'd personally steal with a wider range against say a 70/2/0.1 player than a 70/50/5 player since in the first case, I'm controlling how much goes into the pot postflop whereas in the second case, I'm going to get a ton of pressure and may not be happy if my T9s or something totally misses the flop.

[TJO]

[ QUOTE ]
If the blinds are worse players than you, yes you want to get involved with them. However, I'd personally steal with a wider range against say a 70/2/0.1 player than a 70/50/5 player since in the first case, I'm controlling how much goes into the pot postflop whereas in the second case, I'm going to get a ton of pressure and may not be happy if my T9s or something totally misses the flop.

[/ QUOTE ]This makes sense also. Against a maniac it doesn't matter if I'm better player than him or not because I'm not in control of the situation. That's why I need a better hand to raise with. Thanks!

[marchron]

If the blinds are super-duper loose and super-duper passive, then it is okay to open-limp in LP with hands you'd want to take a flop with but not for two bets, like baby pocket pairs and suited connectors. There's a section in HPFAP devoted to this.

The argument is that even though fewer players in the pot would decrease your equity with hands that prefer multiway action, that's offset by the fact that you'll have position, will know exactly where you stand if they bet, and will often get to see all five cards for free.