Re: Benifits of the straddle
Besides the meta game issues people have raised there are a couple of other situations that can come up.
1) You can straddle to get a hand when you have missed the blinds. Assume 10-15 blinds for this example. Your options are to wait a hand, post $15 live/10 dead and get a hand, or straddle for $30 and get a hand. I think the value of an additional hand and meta game issues can make this reasonable.
2) The casino you are in allows you to skip the blinds if you go bust, you have just lost almost all of your money so you have a straddle or a bit more. Now you can buy in more in bad position, play your 2 bets, or straddle your two bets. If you go bust then you don't have to play the blinds. In this spot I think a straddle looks tilty, if you lose buy a load and come back in position and if you don't play through your blinds and buy a load on the button.
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