Why straddle?

[miketurner]

I played my first live NL cash game at a casino this weekend. I did well, despite my lack of experience... making 76 BB in 3 1/2 hours. Is that good? I really don't know, but I feel like it prolly is at least descent.
Anyway, some people were straddling and it made some other people mad. It didn’t make me mad, but I don’t see why people do it. My current understanding is that I should expect (over the long run) to lose money out of the blinds since I will be OOP on every street... so why would someone voluntarily play from basically a 3rd big blind?

[ckmo]

some people are there to gamble it up, straddling is one way to do that plus it pisses some types of ppl off so its a win/win for the gamble types that don't care about money.

One days results mean nothing long term. You finished ahead, congrats. Just focus on playing good poker. There will be many days where you play good and still lose.

[JJNJustin]

In NL, so you can act last before the flop. If you sense weakness, you can maybe take it down preflop. In limit, it is pretty much a donk bet, maybe a superdonk bet, but in NL some guys like to straddle so they can act last pre-flop, maybe make a big raise and take it down if no one else shows aggression.

-J

[MikeRice]

Image, doubles the stakes when people are playing somewhat deep, pisses people of, option to re-raise if you pick up a hand once people have invested as in my experience people love to limp in and at least see a flop in straddle pots.

[Ayodeji13]

ppl also straddle a lot in pot limit games so that the bring in is larger

[AKQJ10]

Wiki:

[ QUOTE ]
Straddlers are generally gamblers who relish the idea of automatically doubling the stakes preflop. However, a strong player might choose to straddle to give an image of being loose and wild or to encourage the rest of the table to fall into a gambling mentality.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Packard]

People straddle because they are different then us "serious players" on the forums. Basicly they straddle because they are suckers in the game. Straddlers are awesome to have at the table with the extra money on the table potentially fattening our rolls quicker than a black mamba strikes a fat rat!

[DemonDeac]

cuz its fun

about a year ago there was a post (bisonbison maybe) abour the rules of the straddle that was hilarious. if someone found that, i'd be forever in debt

[Yossarian147]

[ QUOTE ]
I did well, despite my lack of experience... making 76 BB in 3 1/2 hours. Is that good?

[/ QUOTE ]

less than 100 BB an hour and you should consider yourself a failure at life.

[RR]

[ QUOTE ]
ppl also straddle a lot in pot limit games so that the bring in is larger

[/ QUOTE ]

In pot limit games a "Mississippi straddle" is popular where the button can straddle making the blinds act first preflop. If you are in a game wehre you can straddle on the button you shoudl do so.