All to often we find ourselves at a table grinding away, waiting for playable hands, only to discover that the clock keeps ticking and our stacks keep dwindling. Most serious cash game players are very sensitive to wasting time at the table.

They are on an ‘hourly rate’ (their anticipated net return per hour) and need to make the time investment count. So when the cards are just not coming, what do we do? The answer is simple: we steal.

There are several factors to consider when contemplating a steal in a cash game. Image is first and foremost.