... don't try stealing from someone who has 6x the chips you do.

This seems pretty simple and straightforward, but someone foolishly tried this on me today.

I'm huge stack at the table - over 30k to everyone else's average 5k. And I'm in BB. Blinds are smallish - 100/200, I think. Doesn't matter what cards I have - my opponent didn't know that. It was a hand I'd play for a goodly chunk my stack though, I remember that.

Anyway, it folds around to CO who bets 3xBB. SB folds. I raise pot. CO re-raises. He's now got about half his chips invested in this pot against the big phish.

I believe I have a good read on him and I strongly believe he doesn't have a hand worth what he has in the pot, let alone his whole stack. He's trying to push me off the blinds. So I put him all-in if he wants to play. He folds.

He didn't make the money cutoff, only because of his mistake.

I see this time and again at tourneys - people trying to steal blinds from the big stack. Why do people do this? Go pick on the moderate and smaller stacks if you want to steal blinds. They're more likely to fold to stay alive.

Actually, I'd rather steal from a big stack than anyone else. A small stack might be desperate enough to call your raise with paint. If you're looking to steal with nothing, do it from the big or fairly big stacks.

If the big stack is good rather than lucky, chances are he's tight, and very solid. He doesn't want to give you his chips for no reason.

On the flip-side. If you have a good hand and want to get called, raising the small stacks is what you want to do. You have a high chance of them calling with inferior hands, AND you don't go broke on suck-outs.

Blind stealing is an art, you gotta know when to do it, and more importantly, who to do it against. A little luck doesn't hurt either!