Becoming a thief hunter is, in my opinion, the most interesting and rewarding playstyle in Split or Steal. You're not just clicking Split every round, you don't need some elaborate copy/pasta, and you don't hide behind the anonymity of High Stakes rounds.

Instead, you mostly keep to the lower ranks (1-7) trying to catch thieves before they can advance into high stakes. Steal from them before they can get there and they'll have to start over at tier 1 (or 3, if they have the doubler).

This can be a heavy drain on karma, but in my experience, it tends to fluctuate depending on how many thieves are online at any given time, so you'll want a little passive help from your HQ and alternate methods of play, but we'll get into that later.

Being a thief hunter is not as lucrative as some other playstyles, and requires a comfortable karma cushion to deal with the fluctuations invovled in occasionally being required to steal. So, starting out, you'll likely want to do the following:

• Only split until you're at least at Kind Soul karma level, but preferably Beacon of Light
  
• Get a skin (look for something you don't see a lot)
  
• Get some lighting (doesn't have to be fancy)
  
• Fill the open building slots in your HQ with Hotdog Express

This strategy will allow you to not only build a trustworthy name, but will allow you to build up money and karma with the split bonus and karma per day from Hotdog Expresses. You can also start your thieves list by inspecting your match history after you've been stolen from, and adding the names of those thieves to your list so you can take revenge later.

Also, joining the Discord is well worth it. You'll get a sense of who people are by hanging out and reading conversations. There are also some very useful links pinned in the main channel.

Once you get a comfortable amount of money saved up, start looking for your thief hunting skin. There's a skin literally called "Thief Hunter", but there's an org that uses this skin, and thieves who imitate them, so it's pretty common. Look for something splitters will recognize and thieves will come to fear. Also, go as expensive as you can. This makes it harder for a small-time thief to copy your look to use in High Stakes rounds.

As for HQ setup, I still keep most of my Hotdog Express, but I'm looking into branching out into artifacts. My plan is to leave half of my HQ as Hotdog Express, and the other half I want outlined in Police Stations (decent karma and good heist defense) and filled in with museums (more artifacts). But I'm not sure how this will work out in the long run, so for now, I'd just recommend keeping the split bonus and karma from the Hotdog Express. I'll update the guide if I find out which works better.

Let's talk about the type of player you're generally looking for. I will steal if my opponent meets any of the following criteria:

• They've recently stolen (indicated by the red "Recently Stolen!" text under their info box)
  
• They have karma that's "In Poor Standing" or below
  
• They're a member of a known thieves org (Thieves, Black Ribbon, etc.)
  
• They're on my personal list of thieves (I keep a spreadsheet on google docs)

Some thief hunters prefer to only steal from people who have stolen from them personally, and not from people who have recently stolen or have bad karma. The reason I disagree with this approach is that it only incentivizes thieves to avoid stealing from you, so they'll always split with you and just steal from everyone else. If your motives are selfish and you just want to avoid being stolen from yourself, I suppose this is fine. However, I prefer to provide a consequence for stealing, so I steal from all thieves. Remember, the only way to get low karma is from stealing (and some HQ buildings, but splitting often will more than account for the karma loss from these).

After you steal, the thief is definitely returned to tier 1 (or 3, if doubler). If the thief steals you as well (this is very likely), then you'll both be reset. Be sure and let the thief know in chat why you're stealing. I like to encourage them to "be better" as well.

However, this is the most important thing to remember:

**IF YOU STEAL FROM A THIEF, CASH OUT AFTERWARD**

If you queue up again without cashing out after stealing from a thief, your next opponent will see the big red "Recently Stolen!" under your info box, and you'll look like a thief. This might even result in you being placed on someone else's known thieves list, and you'll create a rival out of what could have been an ally.

Also, try to periodically trade in your skin for a more valuable one. They are less common and more expensive. You'll find that occasionally a thief will get really salty and start pretending to be you in high stakes, where splitters are more likely to trust. But if your setup costs a lot, the investment may not seem worth it to them when they can simply impersonate a known splitter instead.

Remember, this playstyle isn't about getting rich. If you want to do that, just go play pure splitter, because you'll definitely miss out on some high stakes rounds being a thief hunter. But if you consider catching a thief and sending them back down to be your win, then it won't matter.

You'll need to have a plan for high stakes. Here are a few options, and pros & cons for each:

• Cash out after tier 7 to avoid High Stakes altogether

This option lets you stay in the low rank to catch known thieves before they can get to high stakes. More time spent here helps assure the safety of high stakes, but using solely this method will allow the thieves who *only* steal in high stakes to bypass you and ensure they never end up on your list. Use most when trying to stop specific thieves from advancing.

• Ask for usernames and use your judgement on the response to determine whether to split or steal.

I use this method a lot, but it comes with significant ups and downs. On one hand, I've gotten pretty good at identifying the style of certain players, so if a thief tries to pass themselves off as a known splitter who has a certain typing style or habits, I can steal and prevent them from advancing. However, it occasionally happens that a thief will give me a completely bogus username, and since I split until someone's a known thief, I split and allow the thief to advance, only finding out who they really were after the match. It also occasionally happens that I run across a legit user who I'm not familiar with, but they're using the same skin/lighting as a known thief who I know is playing right now. So just be prepared to take your lumps if you accidentally steal from a splitter. Use most when there are a lot of thieves online.

• Split only, add a thief if you get stolen.

This is probably the method I employ most often, as it allows me to build a little cash and potentially add a thief to my list without risking stealing from a splitter. Better for time and karma as well. Use most when there aren't many thieves online.

• Split only, and steal from defaults.

Defaults are almost always either new players (unpredictable) or thieves who changed their skin for high stakes and want to remain anonymous. New players need to learn to avoid the default skin in high stakes, so if you meet one and you're using this strategy, simply say "get a skin" and lock in steal. Don't engage in any additional conversation, because it could very likely just be a thief pretending to be new in order to play on your sympathies. Use in place of the previous suggestion if that's your cup of tea.

Thanks for reading this guide! I hope some of it was useful for you. And remember, it's nothing personal, just a playstyle in a game. In fact, some of the thieves I associate with in the Discord chat are among the coolest players around (shout out to Cheeryman and Violezine!). But stay strong, and remember that without you, there'd be more thieves in High Stakes, and no consequences!

inb4downvotedbythieves