worth the steal

[docholiday420]

It's also a live game at Foxwoods. (Any foxwoods players out there) So consider giving .50 to the dealer each time.

[templar999]

Fair enough, I stand corrected. This is a good reminder that I probably need to review some old books again.

[ QUOTE ]

Is the "structure" of this game the low ante situation that is considered "worthless" by Reese to not even try and Sklansky would not suggest if asked?

I am only asking if your ante is 1/20 the BB, the bring in 1/5 of the BB (.50 and 2 respectively) is this the low ante, worthless situation that some pros recommend to not even try the ante steal?


[/ QUOTE ]

The 1/20 ante is probably the smallest ante you'll find in any stud game. So if there were a worthless situation as Reese suggests, this would be it.

That said, I don't think ante stealing is ever worthless. The only game where I would never consider an ante steal would be a 1-5 spread limit game, but that's because there are no antes. I regularly play at 10/20 with a 1/3 structure, which is even more "worthless" than the 5/10 structure. And the game is stud hi/lo no less, where the BI already has for certain 1/3 of a hand with which to defend. I know for certain I'm the tightest player at the table, and I still do my fair share of stealing. If there's money out there, no matter how disproportionate to that of future bets and not taking into account personal playing preferences, there will always be an optimum steal % greater than zero.

The one situation where you would never steal comes up if your BI opponent never folds. But you would now complete for other reasons.

[docholiday420]

Good job templar, ok so with more expierence and more conifence with the steal how do you play fourth, fold all the time, keep at it?

[2461Badugi]

[ QUOTE ]
Good job templar, ok so with more expierence and more conifence with the steal how do you play fourth, fold all the time, keep at it?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's actually a lot easier in /8 where you have a bunch of autobetting spots on fourth. I play in that game too, and I'm much more likely to steal than in a 10/20 high game with the same structure, where you have no folding equity on fourth and people will get stubbornly showdown bound. In hi/lo it's very easy for your opponent to have a playable hand on third and a totally worthless hand on fourth. Not being threebet becomes much more important than winning the antes immediately.

(Although against uberstandard stud high players who will defend, call fourth, and fold fifth unless they have two pair or better, you can steal with wild abandon regardless of the ante structure because they're handing you such a high percentage of those two small bets.)