IMO people don't take the blinds too seriously at 5c/10c on WSOP. Because I still have so much to learn about post-flop play I feel the amount of trouble I can get in to playing s--- cards eclipses the ten cents I can try to steal from the big blind.

Although maybe that's the wrong attitude, especially since the time to make mistakes is at the micros.

And I suppose at any bet limit, even $2000/$4000...the amount of trouble you can get in relative to the blinds is still an issue. (Random off-topic question...what's the highest limit cash game offered 24/7 in the US, and where?)

Whatcha think?

well you should start at even 2nl at least on ACR as that player pool way under defends they're blinds. I think question would be when can you no longer bully people's blinds

A lot of the times when people are talking about "stealing the blinds," they just mean raising from the CO, button or SB when it folded to them there. It doesn't mean that they're trying to win the blinds by raising "**** cards."

Poker Tracker and Holdem Manager always had a stat (I assume it is the same as it used to be though I haven't used either in a while) that was "Attempt to Steal the Blinds." It meant the percentage of the time you raised from the CO, button or SB when it folded to you. It also kept track of it separately for each of those 3 positions.

So, it's really more of a positional awareness thing. For example, you should have a higher PFR from the button than from UTG regardless of what stake you are playing.

You don’t want to play really bad cards unless your opponents fold so much that you can almost turn an auto profit.

If your cards aren’t that bad and you sit on the button, you can raise because your opponents a) fold everything that’s not really good (aka over fold see above) or have to play a hand out of position that also isn’t that great on average.

It’s not only that players at microstakes fold too many hands against steals, they also defend the wrong hands and defend them the wrong way. They 3bet way too little and if they do, it’s often the wrong hands.

Stealing the blinds (opening a wider range) from the CO, BTN and SB are your main sources of EV, even at the lower stakes.
You want to start doing it ASAP.

You should be opening CO pretty wide, how wide depends on rake, effective stacks and the opponents behind you.
For me in tournaments this is 35%, it might be a bit different in cash games.
GTO suggest opening tighter from the CO, but opening wider exploits weak BTN and blind players, which is everyone at smaller stakes.
People still fold too often in the blinds and even on the BTN and don't 3bet enough.

On the BTN you want to be raising even wider, same reasoning, for me this is 50% of hands.

The SB is a bit tougher to play, not sure how this is in cash games atm, but in tournaments the good players are playing 80-90% of their hands splitting them between opening and limping.

Think the biggest difference is the rake you pay when it goes post-flop, but not sure if that matters enough.

Shouldn't be too hard to find some decent ranges out there.
If you go with a GTO range, be sure to expand the CO range a bit to exploit the weak players behind you.

You can then easily steal the pot post-flop with a small c-bet or a turn barrel on a good card.
Yes, stealing the blinds requires good post-flop play as well, but you'll learn it as you go.