Benifits of the straddle

[Rek]

Julio, you can do all of the above without a straddle. If you want to keep it jolly and loose you can do that anyway. A stradle is simply a big big blind. In a serious game I am putting no money into a pot without looking - it is -EV. If others want to do it fine, I will be more than happy for them to do so.

If it is such a positive thing to do then go ahead and straddle every game you play. It is only for fun entertainment and not a serious game. That is my point.

[EWillers]

[ QUOTE ]
There is a neat trick I saw once. Get a straddle amount and tie it together with a rubber band. Explain to people that whoever wins the next pot from you gets this bundle but should use it to straddle when it's their turn - and whoever wins that pot will get the bundle and should do the same. Sometimes it gets a lot of straddles going, sometimes not.


[/ QUOTE ]

This is known in some circles as a "rock" (no. . .not that kind of rock). In my experience it is very good for action.

I remember being in a game one time where the question was brought up as to whether you could use the "rock" to raise (a minraise) preflop prior to the hand you would be the straddle. The other players at the table who chimed in figured, sure, you COULD do that, but that'd be pretty dumb as you would be giving up your ability to straddle when the time came (God bless those guys).

Straddles are generally great for the game as they encourage action and get people gambooooling. The only times I've ever done it was when I was at a table where the whole table agreed to straddle. We did it for about 4 hours and it was a great game.

Whenever people try to get me to straddle in normal circumstances I usually just say somethin' to the effect that I pulled a hammy playin' basketball and the doc said no straddling for a month.

[El_Hombre_Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
Julio, you can do all of the above without a straddle. If you want to keep it jolly and loose you can do that anyway. A stradle is simply a big big blind. In a serious game I am putting no money into a pot without looking - it is -EV. If others want to do it fine, I will be more than happy for them to do so.

If it is such a positive thing to do then go ahead and straddle every game you play. It is only for fun entertainment and not a serious game. That is my point.

[/ QUOTE ]

You've missed the point. Its called "metagame."
There is no doubt that a straddle is a -EV event on that hand. Not as bad in NL as Limit, but you would never be justified in putting in an extra bet, out of position, without looking at your cards.

Unless, it helps loosen your image at the table and helps conceal the fact that you play 19/12/4 when pretty much everyone else is running at 50/2/.33. And 2 BBs is a lot cheaper than most ways to look like a gambler. Especially if 2-3 other guys are straddling as well.

[RustyBrooks]

The point of a happy fun gambling table is not to have fun. It's to make the table gamble, so you can take advantage of them. If that means occaisonally throwing 1 extra bet into the pot so that they will happily throw in dozens, so much the better.

[Lagtastic]

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.

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

[Rek]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

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

[/ QUOTE ]
Exactly

[armen13]

At the RIO last week, they were allowing a button straddle. I'd never seen this before and didn't see it anywhere else. I don't play a lot of live so I don't know if this is common or even allowed most places. This obv. has very different implications than the traditional straddle.

[binions]

I only straddle in Mississippi.

[Albert Moulton]

I average about 6bb/hr live. Putting 2bb into the pot on every orbit (in addition to my blinds) where I will usually fold to any raise, and play OOP in any unraised pot seems like a great way to put a serious dent in my win rate. I just don't think any "loosening up" of the table from my straddle will compensate for the 6bb+/hr extra money that I put in blind from bad position.

However, I kind of like it when others straddle. I lets the pot play bigger when I have good hands. Sometimes, if the straddler likes to over-raise his straddle a lot, I can even deep limp with AA and kill the straddler when he over-raises with 77-AA/AJ+.

Also, metagame is overrated at most live games. The solid regulars won't be fooled. The gambling LAGs and social calling stations won't notice.

Better metagame considerations might be calling with a wider range than expected on the button so you can show down 84s on a 744 flop when you stack some guy with AA in EP who didn't raise enough preflop relative to your effective stacks. Or raising UTG with 78s (planning to fold to a reraise). Or whatever... Straddling blind isn't as good as other means of mixing up your game for "metagame" purposes vs people with whom you play regularly.

[binions]

[ QUOTE ]
I average about 6bb/hr live. Putting 2bb into the pot on every orbit (in addition to my blinds) where I will usually fold to any raise, and play OOP in any unraised pot seems like a great way to put a serious dent in my win rate. I just don't think any "loosening up" of the table from my straddle will compensate for the 6bb+/hr extra money that I put in blind from bad position.

However, I kind of like it when others straddle. I lets the pot play bigger when I have good hands. Sometimes, if the straddler likes to over-raise his straddle a lot, I can even deep limp with AA and kill the straddler when he over-raises with 77-AA/AJ+.

Also, metagame is overrated at most live games. The solid regulars won't be fooled. The gambling LAGs and social calling stations won't notice.

Better metagame considerations might be calling with a wider range than expected on the button so you can show down 84s on a 744 flop when you stack some guy with AA in EP who didn't raise enough preflop relative to your effective stacks. Or raising UTG with 78s (planning to fold to a reraise). Or whatever... Straddling blind isn't as good as other means of mixing up your game for "metagame" purposes vs people with whom you play regularly.

[/ QUOTE ]

+1

But button straddling forcing SB to act first preflop (i.e. Mississippi straddle) is not -EV in my experience.