To steal the blinds is a tactic which involves making a bet in late position, typically on the button or in the cutoff, in order to have the remaining players fold, thereby collecting the blinds.

If there has been no action at the table yet a player in late position has an opportunity to steal the blinds. This can be done with little consideration for the cards the player has, since whether it works depends solely on the cards of the players to their left. So long as they have weak starting hands they will fold and the late position raiser will win the blinds.

Performing this move too often will cause it to lose effectiveness against some players. Many players in the blinds may being calling moderate bets from late position with weaker hands. That is, the players at the table will start to realize what is going on and discount any meaning attached to the late position bet.

Stealing on Later Rounds

Though the term is generally used in reference to stealing the blinds, it is occasionally used to refer to bluffs by a player in late position on further rounds. Such bets later in the hand however need to be a lot larger than what is required on the first round. Thus it is a lot riskier and the word steal used less frequently.