Resteals: The Basics
by PokerStrategy.com
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Introduction
In this article- Give your opponent 2:1 odds at the most
- Loose aggressive players are the best opponents
- Pure resteals are of less importance
Responding to an opponent's steal with a raise in an attempt to force him to give up his hand is called restealing. This is usually an all-in push, which you learned about along with possible hand ranges in the Beginner's Section.
The purpose of a resteal is not getting a call out of your opponent. This means that pushing with pocket aces is, by definition, not a resteal. It's still a very good idea to play AA the same way as you play your resteals; this will make it harder for your opponents to get a read on you and make their decisions more difficult.
You have to identify an opponent's steal (or at least a raise that is likely to be a steal; he could have pocket aces, after all) before you can consider restealing.
How large should the stacks be?
The most important aspect of a resteal is the odds you give your opponent with your push. Can he still fold? Do you want him to fold?
You don't want him to fold when you have JJ, for example. You may, however, prefer to see him fold when you're holding pocket 7s.
The BU has 16 BBs in his stack and raises to 3 BBs. The SB folds. You are the BB and are considering a resteal with the 7 BBs you have left. There will be 11.5 BBs in the pot if you push, meaning the BU would have to pay another 5 BBs to stay in he hand - 2:1 pot odds. He will still have 8 BBs if he loses, enough to stay in the game and even generate fold equity with a push.
Take the same situation, but give yourself a 13 BB stack this time. There would then be 16.5 BBs in the pot; your opponent would have to pay 10 BBs to stay in the hand - 1.65:1 pot odds. Losing leaves him 3 BBs, too little to do much with. This time your opponent will be much more likely to fold.
As you can see, you need a hand that is ahead against most of the hands in your opponent's range to resteal as a shorty; your opponents will rarely fold and you will almost always have to win a showdown.
Fold equity is the most important criterion when you resteal with a larger stack. Both stacks, yours and your opponents, must be large enough for your push to give him less than 2:1 odds. Your raise should be at least pot size, preferably more.
You need at least 11 BBs to resteal to generate sufficient fold equity after a 3 BB steal from the BU.
Your resteal should be at least 3x the steal raise when you and your opponent are both deep stacked. You shouldn't, however, make a reraise that leaves you pot committed - you might as well push all-in.
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#1
p0kerQT, 17 Apr 09 18:20
"And remember: A player who steals a lot almost always has a hand with value when the steal turns into a push."Yep, if a really loose-aggressive player usually minraises every few hands, then makes a bigger raise than normal they usually have a good hand, so its a bad idea to re-steal here.
#2
painterman007, 19 Dec 09 05:07
Thanks for explaining that one :)#3
Koshburger, 10 Feb 10 02:25
ok#4
alberts1955, 23 May 10 17:46
good article :)#5
SPADES1, 03 Feb 11 16:02
In answer to: 'Yep, if a really loose-aggressive player usually minraises every few hands, then makes a bigger raise than normal they usually have a good hand, so its a bad idea to re-steal here.'If the LAG is a dumb I agree, otherwise he makes always the same raise.