Benifits of the straddle

[Lagtastic]

is it just me or is straddling only for hyper-aggresive folk, or people that are on steam? i really dont see the benefit in it, yet it happens so often in the live games i play.

[Lagtastic]

---edit title needed---i know

[RustyBrooks]

They want to get more money in the pot, essentially raising the stakes in a no limit game, because they are better than other people. [Edit: this is why decent players might do it. Gamblers do it to gamble] The reason the stakes are essentially raised is that in order to give proper pot odds (or deny pot odds, etc), a raiser now has to raise more to get the same effect.

In limit games this does not have the same effect, really, because it just makes it more profitable for people to chase. However, most people in limit games do not take the extra money into consideration and attempt to win it right away, so I like it when people straddle. The same goes for kill pots in kill games, people do not up the aggression to try to win the pot early, and profit on the temporarily raised stakes.

If a lot of people are straddling I'll do it because I want to keep the action going.

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.

[br.bm]

what is a kill pot?

[RustyBrooks]

Some games are played with a kill qualifier. Whenever a player wins a pot that meats the qualifier (usually a pot of a given size or larger) he gets a kill button. If he wins a second pot that meets the qualifier, the stakes double (if it's a full kill game) or increase by 50% (if it's a half kill game).

Also, the player who won those two pots has to post an extra blind which is double the big blind, and gets to act last preflop.

If you have the kill button and you lose a hand, the kill button goes to someone else and the process starts again.

So a 4/8 full kill game, when the kill is on, moves to 8/16 and the guy with the kill button post a $8 blind.

There is some emergent behavior in these pots that you should take advantage of:
* loose players are often less willing to play as loose, because there is more money in the pot
* passive players are less likely to call you down because the bet sizes are out of their comfort zone
* people don't stop to think that there's a little extra money in the pot

If you can be the first person to raise then you get to make everyone call $16 right off the bat when they're used to calling $4 or $8. The same thing happens if there's a straddle on, if you are the first person in you can raise and make people call more $ than they're used to. There's much more in the pot than usual, so it becomes worth it to try to end the hand preflop or on the flop and steal the whole thing.

[Rek]

There are no benefits to a straddle. Only numbnuts want to voluntarily put extra money in a pot without the benefit of seeing their cards.

It's ok as a fun element but if you are playing to win money it is the pits.

[DavidSRT]

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what is a kill pot?

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A kill pot is when someone (in a kill game) wins two pots in a row the next pot becomes a "Kill pot" which means that the betting increments double. There are some rules for it too For example at my local casino, at 3/6 limit, if I win any pot, the dealer will toss me a "leg up" button. If I win the next pot and it is over 40 dollars the next pot will be a "kill pot" and it will be 6/12 limit for one hand.

[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.

[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.