Where does the term straddle come from?

[esch]

The term straddle means to "bridge" two opposite sides/concepts.

I'd make the connection that one is bridging the first to act and last to act spots by straddling.

You also have the financial straddle where one takes action on both sides (put and call) of an option.

Whatever the origin, whoever came up with the term was pretty clever. "Blind raise with option" would just be lame.

[Phat Mack]

When I first started playing, if there were two blinds, the small blind was called "the blind," and the big blind was called "the straddle." It wasn't 'til the 80s that I heard "straddle" used to denote an optional blind.

Before that, optional blinds were called "kills" if they couldn't be "re-straddled," (if that makes any sense), or "darkens" or "re-straddles" if they could, and were to immediate left of the big blind. (As in "It's two, five and darkened for ten; twenty to bring it in.") If they weren't next to the big blind, and they didn't "kill" the action, and they would be pulled back if there was action before them, they were called "sleeps."

I'm not sure if any of the above makes sense, but there it is. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[pfapfap]

Thank you for that succinct description. I like that terminology better. I also tend to favor some of the older rules/customs in NL. I've been thinking of introducing a sleeper to my game.