Are these stealable hands?

[GatorJH]

One of the things I struggle with are deciding which hands and/or situations I should attempt a steal with. Please review the below hands and let me know if you would or would not attempt a steal with them. Also, if you would attempt a steal how big would you raise?

Note: Both of these are $10+1's on Absolute

Hand #1
Absolute Poker
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t50/t100
4 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
GatorJerryH: t1530
Button: t1440
SB: t8665
BB: t1865

Pre-flop: (4 players) GatorJerryH is UTG with T Q


Hand #2

Absolute Poker
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t75/t150
3 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
GatorJerryH: t2410
SB: t9250
BB: t1840

Pre-flop: (3 players) GatorJerryH is Button with 8 9


Hand #3

Absolute Poker
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t50/t100
5 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t2395
GatorJerryH: t1540
Button: t2965
SB: t1550
BB: t5050

Pre-flop: (5 players) GatorJerryH is CO with J Q

[Aplomado]

I would attempt at steal in all of the above situations, assuming it's folded to you in the last two cases. On the bubble, steal with impunity. There is much money to be made in blind stealling. At 3-handed, I would steal the shit out of the blinds. Normally I don't do it from the SB though because it looks like a steal and if you get called, you're out of position. Vary the raise from 2.5x to 3.5x or whatever. Generally you want it to be folded to you - people are much more willing to fold their blind rather than fold their call of a blind. The cards I have generally don't make a difference.

[Blinky]

Q:
What is stealing in a tourney/SnG?

my A:
Raising preflop and having the blinds fold to your raise. IOW, your cards don't matter when you're stealing.

What matters more is if
- your position - how far off the button are you
- relative chipstacks
- the players in the blinds - tight? Will they defend their blinds? Has anyone tried to resteal?
- what have you been doing the past few times you've been in this situation? Have you stolen blinds? Perhaps raised preflop and took down the flop with a cbet?

FWIW it's ually nice to have something to back up your steals, even something that is playable postflop like 78s or such. However, when it comes to blindstealing, it's about so much more than the cards...

[gabe]

cards only matter if it goes to showdown.

pick on tight players and non-aggressive medium stacks. big stacks are usually too loose and small stacks are too likely to put you in a tough spot when you have a marginal hand.

[GatorJH]

cards only matter if it goes to showdown.

pick on tight players and non-aggressive medium stacks. big stacks are usually too loose and small stacks are too likely to put you in a tough spot when you have a marginal hand.

Now you are getting at the reason for the post. In all three cases the chip leader is in the blinds. If the general theory is that the big stacks are too loose can you still attempt a steal in these situations, especially with these cards?

The main reason I am asking is that it seems that, at these levels ($5.5's, $11's, etc.) people think an A this late in the game is golden and guard them with their lives. Below is the result of Hand 1 to illustrate that point.

Pre-flop: (4 players) GatorJerryH is UTG with T Q
GatorJerryH folds, Button raises to t400, SB calls t350, BB folds.

Flop: 6 5 9 (t900, 2 players)
SB checks, Button bets t300, SB raises to t600, Button calls t300.

Turn: 5 (t2100, 2 players)
SB bets t500, Button 440 t440.
Uncalled bets: t60 returned to SB.

River: 2 (t2980, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t2980)


Results:
Final pot: t2980
Button Shows 6d Ah
SB Shows Kd Kc