The ability and willingness to steal blinds in a poker game, and especially in poker tournaments, is crucial to building your stack between good hands. This is probably the number one use of bluffing, as it wouldn’t be called “stealing” the blinds if your cards gave you a right to them. Your ability to steal blinds can be critical to your success in the middle and late rounds of a tournament.
Whether your stack is big or small, stealing the blinds can be very beneficial. Obviously if your stack is small, then stealing the blinds is not just advantageous but necessary to ensure that you’ll make it to the next round. Most pros recommend stealing the blinds once per round in the latter half of a tournament. Beginners often make the mistake of stealing blinds too early. The reason no one challenges your overly aggressive bets in the early rounds is quite simply because the blinds aren’t worth it, but by bluffing on nothing when the pot odds are low, you put yourself in a position to be called and to lose that misplaced bet. With more experience and better knowledge of the rules for poker games, you will learn which situations are ideal for stealing blinds.
Also, if you start bluffing and stealing blinds too early or too frequently, chances are your opponents will catch on and will eventually call your bluff. You should place your bets (even when bluffing) as carefully as you play your hands. Toward the middle of the tournament, the blinds will start outsizing some stacks. This is when stealing them becomes worth the risk. It also in some ways becomes easier. Early in the tournament when bets and blinds are low enough to call without busting your stack, a player is more likely to call your bluff. But at this stage in the tournament, most players have switched to a tight-aggressive strategy and are choosing their battles which means they are more likely to fold than call a big bet, especially if they are not posting the blinds themselves.
Obviously it doesn’t do you much good to steal your own blind. Late positions are best for stealing the blinds, because they give you a chance to size up your other players and their commitment to their hands. Also, do not steal from the same position or with the same bet. Vary them to prevent other players from calling your bluffs or outplaying you at your own game. Because winning a tournament makes it necessary for you to grow your stack consistently, stealing blinds can be a great tool when the cards just aren’t coming fast enough.