why would you straddle??

[EastofElvis 0]

I'm not the most experienced player around and ran into this at a $3/$6 game at the local casino last night. The dealer called it a "live straddle" when the player UTG posts double the big blind bet before any cards were dealt. This also allowed the betting cap to be 5x the standard bet rather than 4x, and the straddler gets a check/raise option when the betting gets back around to them. We had two players start doing this for several hands.My question is why do this?? Is there some benefit I'm not aware of?? It did make for bigger pots and when my pocket queens turned into a boat to take down a $90+ pot, it was fine. I'm just trying to understand if there's some strategy to this. Thanks.

[speedz99 145]

The main benefit is that when you straddle (as you said) you take the option away from the big blind.But usually the people who do it are just mixing it up for fun or being obnoxious on purpose.

[Davin 0]

bc it annoys the crap out of the bband bc it's fun to do

[jayistheman 0]

action.its also good in PL games, to allow bigger pf raises in EP.

[SomethingWicked 0]

I usually dont do this. But I think that there are significant benefits to straddle in a Kill Game. However, I think the cons out weigh the pro's unless done with sufficiant motive. Liek say the bb has killed the last 3 pots leading into his bb. He won't expect a straddle. You will more than likely get to raise and less people will be interested in the action because they will assume that you will be giving it. *never tried this* liek I said I don't like to straddle. But I can see where it could be used to your advantage. *The only time I straddled I got AA and pegged one on the flop. Which sucked because no one believed I had a hand and got beat by runner runner got shot on the river. But the action was insane. :-)

[Abbaddabba 0]

It creates a friendlier, softer table and gives you a loose image. I'd still never do it.

[akishore 0]

gambooooool!aseemp.s. it also "buys" you late position preflop.

[jayboogie 0]

I do it cuz I'm a donkey Well ok no really, there is a bit of logic to it. I'll do it if the table is unusually tight in a live game filled with weak passives. It'll create action for me and get the weak tights playing back at me with more marginal holdings allowing me to get paid off when I decide to tighten up my game.Others tend to do it when they're on tilt and or just want to gamble and get lucky, you'll see it a lot at B&M's. Sometimes you'll get 4 or 5 straddles in 1 hand, I've been in games where there'd be a straddle 2 or 3 times each round.

[fmlycar 0]

-EV

[timwakefield 68]

The only time I saw guys straddling, they were both very loose. It didn't seem to benefit them much, but raised the action sometimes. In a $1/$2 NL game, a standard raise became about $16-$20 instead of $8-$12 when UTG straddled (for $4).

[Jadaki 0]

I do it occasionally in 1/2 NL limit games for a couple of reasons.First, if I have been playing tight and built a nice stack, I will do it to loosen my image. It will also loosen up a tight table and hopefully, make it a little more profitable.The other time I do it is if I am short stacked in a NL game, like down to 30ish dollars. Occasionally I will stradle and hope I get several limpers to me, them push preflop with any two cards. You would be suprised how often I can double up as a short stack doing that. Don't try it to often though, someone will catch on.

[Davin 0]

craziest straddle hand i've ever seen.1/2nl 7 handeda guy has about 64 on the button, and realizes that if everyone straddled, he had just enough to make the last straddleeveryone agrees (this was at an EXTREMELY loose home game) and so everyone straddles (the last bet being $64). the two blinds fold, utg calls, there's another fold, a raise to $200, and then the guy following him made the comment "God i hope i dont have jacks". he proceeds to check his cards and goes all in immediately (like $265 total)utg who made the first call calls both bets, and the guy who made the original raise also just calls (since he cant raise).the flop comes q-x-x w/ 2 diamonds and a club and the guy who went all in for 265 jumps (so we know he has qq). it goes check check. turn is another clubit goes check check againriver is the ace of clubs. utg immediately goes all in and the guy who raised to $200 flashes 10-10 before mucking.utg turned over aathe guy who went in for 265 turns over qqthe original all in for 64 guy still hasnt checked his cards yet. he slowly flips over the first card, the king of club. then the second card, the 6 of clubs.LOL... he had the nuts and the room exploded in a chorus of "Holy Shits"