During televised poker tournaments, you'll often here the commentators talk about stealing blinds.

What they are referring to is when a player, holding a junk hand, raises before the flop, in the hopes of winning the blinds and antes without a fight.

It's a very effective and profitable strategy when handled properly. In fact, one of the key elements that differentiate a great tournament player from an average one is the way he utilizes blind stealing.

If you want to be a great player too, you must learn how to perfect this legal form of stealing.

Because blinds and antes escalate so quickly in a tournament, you don't have all day to wait for premium hands. Therefore, while you're waiting for strong cards, you have to get involved with stealing some blinds just to stay afloat. Otherwise, your stack will dwindle and you'll ante yourself right out of the tournament.

Here are a few important things you need to think about when attempting to steal blinds.

• Who's in the Big Blind. When you're considering raising the big blind, it's extremely important to consider who the player is and how he plays. If he's a very loose, aggressive type, then attempting to steal his blind might prove foolish since he will defend it much of the time.

Instead, look to attack the blind of a tight or weak player: you know, the Rock of Gibraltar who only plays when he has aces or kings. He should be your target since you'll get away with this highway robbery often enough to make the play profitable.

• Your Position at the Table. Stealing blinds from late position works better than from early position for one simple reason: there are fewer players to act behind you. If you are trying to steal the blinds from first position, at a nine-handed table, it means you'd have to get by eight other players, hoping none of them pick up a hand worthy of a call. That's unlikely. If, however, you attempt to steal from the button position, you'd only have to contend with two players, the little blind and the big blind.

• Your Table Image. If your opponents have you pegged as an overly-aggressive bluffer, it will become more difficult for you to steal their blinds. If, for example, they've watched you raise three hands in a row, and you also had to show a junk hand like 7-2 offsuit, then your steal attempts will likely be contested, as your cover has been blown.

So, if you feel like your competitors are on to you, it's time to throw them a curve ball and wait for a strong hand to bust them with.

Conversely, if your opponents see you as a rock, you then need to exploit that image by being selectively aggressive. It should be easier for you to steal blinds with a tight image, but you don't want to over do it, because you'd be risking your image. It's a balancing act that you'll get the hang of with some experience.

• Your Stack Size. If you find yourself short-stacked in a tournament, it will have a major effect on your ability to use blind stealing as a weapon. Since other players will realize that you aren't a major threat to their stack, they might decide to play marginal hands against you hoping to knock you out.

So ideally, as a short stack, you want to avoid stealing blinds entirely. But if you feel like you've found a truly good situation to attempt it, put all of your eggs in one basket and go all-in.

If, however, you find yourself sitting pretty with a big stack, use all of that muscle to collect more chips off of the shorter stacks.

There's an old saying, "Making your first million is the hard part. Once you do that, making money is easy."

That's what life is like as a big stack. You have the luxury of being able to mug them in broad daylight against shorter-stacked opponents who know full well that you are stealing their blinds, but simply can't do anything about it.

To become an accomplished blind stealer you need to really pay attention to everything that's going on at the table. It takes more than random thought. You need to focus on these key factors: whose blinds should you steal, what seat you're in, do opponents see you as a thief, and how much ammunition you have.

One last thing, keep an eye out for the player who gets frustrated by your steals. His blind is usually up for grabs!
By Daniel Negreanu