Why straddle in poker

Most poker rooms only allow a straddle from the under-the-gun position, but some allow straddles from the button and other positions. There are even poker rooms that allow for double and triple straddles, or more.

When a player straddles, their overall expected value EV in that particular hand goes down. Hand selection is crucial in poker, especially from the early positions like under the gun. At many casinos, the straddle is only permitted from under the gun, the position which normally requires the tightest hand selection for a winning strategy.

Straddled hands also cut stacks in half, in terms of number of big blinds. Playing with a 50 big blind stack brings in an entirely new strategy for starting hands and postflop play, and can lead to difficult spots at the poker table.

Note: Want to upgrade your poker skills? Get free preflop charts and start playing like a pro before the flop. Download now! In the following cases, however, straddling could have benefits. Straddling could be a profitable move if you have several opponents that are prone to calling loose preflop , then folding to aggression postflop.

With this table dynamic, you could use the straddle to build big preflop pot, then take advantage of passive opponents with aggressive postflop bets. Thats my two cents. Thanks for the comment S! I agree with point 1, especially if you can encourage a round of straddles. My home casino plays the button straddle this way. Seems like this gives the button a big advantage to act last on limped pre flops and pressure table with raises?

The concept would be similar to a normal Mississippi straddle done on the button, given the absolute position and ability to act last preflop. It can be good in certain games, for sure, especially when you can use your position and really generate those preflop folds with a nice big raise!

Nice article James, I usually follow the strategy you describe. If some deep fishes are to the left of myself I will often straddle because I want to build the pot up early to stack them easier and because they will call almost every hand or even blind. I will often live straddle if to the right of myself sits a whale or a maniac to have position on him once more in the game and again: to build the pot up and stack him easier.

Besides, I have the feeling that maniacs get often very emotional in straddled pots. But in doing so you build the pot with a totally random out of position on the fish. I am sure, you have the answer to this. All the best from Copenhagen.

I agree for the most part. If we had hundreds of thousands of hands database, assuming you could straddle online and you did it voluntarily every button, Im sure it would yield a worse WR than not straddling. I was at a live cash game tbl the utg straddled and i was utg2 and i was forced to call theyx said i couldnt fold it made no sense at all. That is very strange. Should I Straddle? Coaching Videos. At PokerVIP we pride ourselves in recruiting top poker talent from around the World to help our users improve their game.

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Select a country to get offers Belgium. United Kingdom. Hence, it is crucial to learn how to cope with a straddle. This scenario makes it overly tough to play drawing hands. Therefore, you would want to go into a game with at least a basic knowledge of how to leverage stack sizes.

Many professional poker players will tell you that straddling is a poor move , and they are mostly right. Many players straddle just for the fun of it, and others do it to join in the merry go round on a poker table. You should never allow the actions going on in a poker table to bully you into straddling.

Preflop Postflop. When should you straddle in poker and when not to? Table of Contents. Button straddle. The double straddle will turn your poker game into playing 2 limits higher than without the straddle.