The definition of a Button Steal is where a poker player steals the blinds from the dealer position, also known as the button. The button steal occurs often in poker tournaments when everyone has folded around to the dealer button and the dealer position player decides to try to get the small blind and big blind chips by making a raise.
Button steal is a necessary aspect to winning poker tournaments, as you will not make it to the final table by simply playing only the cards in your hand. A major aspect of poker skill is the ability to take advantage of situations when they happen. A major positive expectation situation occurs when you are in late position. Poker is a game of skill, and you need to take advantage of situations when you see them. One of the most important situations that you can take advantage of is being in late position. Late position gives you the chance to act last on each betting round after the flop and gives you the chance to steal the blinds before the flop if nobody else has entered the pot yet.
Stealing the blinds from late position like the dealer button or the cutoff seat (one spot in front of the dealer button) increases your chip stack without you having to get involved in playing a big pot where you put a lot of your chips at risk. Instead, performing a button steal, a small raise from the button when no one else is in the pot often wins the blind without any contest from the small blind or big blind.
Many poker tournament experts recommend the button steal as a great tool to use to increase your chip stack during middle and late phases of multi-table tournaments. Tournament poker strategy shows that a raise of three to four times the big blind with any two cards late position puts enough pressure on the blinds that most of the time they will fold and give you have the pot. If the blinds to defend themselves by calling, you have the advantage on each betting round of acting after them.
The drawback to the button steal is that the button steal play has become rather predicatable. The button steal is used so often that it is almost expected to happen every time the hand is folded around to the dealer. Occasionally, skilled and observant opponents in the small blind or big blind will reraise the button to find out if he has a real hand or if he was just stealing. If you were stealing the blinds, then you should fold but remember the player may try to resteal again if you try to steal the blinds in the future. Because of the predictability of the button steal, many players now try to steal the blinds from the cutoff seat to give the appearance that they raised with the button still to act so they must have a good hand.
The button steal is usually superior to trying to steal the blinds from any other position because there are less players to act behind you. With each additional player to act there is a better chance that someone will have a good enough hand to play back at you.
Ideally, when you button steal you want to be holding a playable hand. In case you get called, it is better to have a one-gap hand like 7-9 or small suited connectors like 4-5 diamonds that can hit the flop even if you did not want to play the hand. If you try to steal with garbage like 2-3, 9-4, or 2-7 you will usually not flop much of a hand.
Observe the play of the small blind and big blind. If the blinds are tight players, then they are likely to not defend their blinds and are great targets for button steals. If the blinds regularly defend themselves against raises then they are more likely to call or reraise you button steal play and you should try to steal the blinds less often against them.
Note the stack size of the blinds before you make a button steal. The chip leader at the table may make a looser call or reraise you if he thinks your stealing because he has the extra chips to play with. On the other hand, an extremely short stack player may be forced to call or go all in against your steal raise so make sure your hand has a chance to win at showdown. These two situations are times when the button steal may not be effective at all so pay attention to stack sizes.
Having a solid, tight table image will also lend some credibility to your button steal. Players that think you are tight may throw away decent hands figuring that you must have a big hand. On the other hand, if you have been caught trying to steal the blinds recently your image might incline some players to look you up by calling your raise or restealing from you by reraising your steal.
