[Mook]

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meh even with all these arguements for why "good" players do it, I'm not convinced. there are other ways to juice the pot when you have a hand then tossing in the straddle.

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Really? What are some of your "other ways" for doing this when, as you say, you have a hand? Because if I've seen you for more than a couple of orbits and you're playing ABC 22/17-type poker, believe you me, I'm not putting dime one into a pot you've "juiced" without a very good reason.

Even for your average non-2+2'er, first impressions are extremely powerful at live tables. If the first thing you do is sit down and blind straddle a few pots, people are going to tag you as a "maniac" or an "action junkie" even if you play 22/17 the rest of the time. And you're almost certainly going to get many times more action on your great hands than someone who doesn't see a flop for the first hour and then tries to come out guns blazing.

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the only real valid arguement i like is to increase the "fun" of the game. it does spice things up a lot.

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And my point being that in some games - not all games, not even many games, but in more than you'd think - "spicing things up" can yield an order of magnitude more EV than you're losing through the straddle. Refusing to take advantage of these situations when they pop up simply because you're standing on principle borders on criminal.

Mook