Live potlimit holdem - Why Straddle? SPR

[jipster]

We have a lot of £1/2 potlimit holdem games in the uk. Most have a £5 live straddle.... We've discussed the pros and cons of straddling many times but never, as far as i am aware, from a Stack-To-Pot ratio (SPR) point of view....

Hypothetical.... a few hours in, a loose but weak player has a stack of say £500 in front of him. We intend to cover him but its unlikely he'll go broke for 250BB's easily.

So; by straddling we effectively make the game a 1/2/5 game and that means we have 100BB's; much easier to reach our target SPR's of 5 or 6 for top pair hands.

More importantly; we can hit our target SPR's without RERAISING and giving our opponents a chance to get out of the way preflop.

The emphasis here is it is a POTLIMIT game.... we can manipulate bet sizes but cannot overbet the pot!

What do you people think? And how does the scenario differ in a no limit game?

[dune]

The SPR may be more attractive for top pair but with two random cards I would imagine the other people involved in the pot are more likely to make top pair rather than your blind hand.
It could only make sense to me if the weak player was in the blinds and it was a relatively passive table. Even then, opening your range up UTG and always opening with a raise in that situation might be more effective as players behind you are less likely to get involved and it gives you control over which hands you play.