What is there to understand??
Blinds are 1/2 stack off 400. = 200 x big blind.
Blinds are 1/2/4/8 stack of 400/ = 50 x big blind.
You'd play these two stacks differently in a tourny right?
When someone straddles to 8 there is now 15 in the pot not 3. so initially stealing the pot is of much greater value. Similarly alot of morons limp in on the straddle without the plan of lrr and then have to fold to a raise which is just donating dead money in the pot. Just straddle with a tight image and when either the whole table limps in just pump it and bet the flop or jam it in peopls eyes with AA!!
Straddling is a great way to give off the image of being loose without costing yourself that many bbs and without you having to act first pre.
Re: straddling, I understand what people are trying to do, but I don't think it is +ev in the long run. The amount of times I see players having to lay down a straddle, or make a daft call because of 'pot odds' only to play the whole hand out of position, or hit the flop but not as hard as the player who had a better hand to begin with,...I could go on...
For someone like me, straddling won't fool anyone, I am very tight (with regards to position) so within half an hour the whole table will know this.
I love playing with straddlers though for the reasons you mentioned. I get the best of both worlds by not straddling on a straddle happy table. It also means I have a super tight image when I refuse to straddle and then get MASSES of respect when I do run a bluff later on.
What's not +ev in the long run putting in an extra 2 bbs each orbit you mean that specifically? Because that itself isn't the ev bit, it's the benefits you gain from taking more dead money in the future and possibly getting more action because you look looser in peoples eyes. I dont know who you have been watching but just watch good players and not random people straddling because they want to play higher or because gambling is fun.
Why are you trying to save your image to run a bluff when you could be using your tight image to pick up a free 10-30 everytime you're utg.
If you dont straddle how do you play your utg. just raise and have everyone try and 2pr+ mine you?
There is a time and a place for every play style and that is when the table is playing the opposite having such restrictively tight tendencies will not only restrict your possibly winnings but make you alot easier to play against. It's very true the looser you play (assuming you are always thinking and trying to get better) the quicker you improve.
Also the straddle is very effective in the later stages of live games where the stacks have got stupidly deep.
Generally I don't play utg very much. It just sucks too much. If I get a big hand I agree, raising kind of gives it away and people can and will set mine you. A limp re-raise can work well here utg with a big pair, although I know it can be considered a bit donkish.
I need to watch straddlers a little more I suppose, but mostly what I see is terrible poker players playing bingo from one of the worst positions possible.
If it's about cultivating an image then I maintain for me it's a waste of time. People already think I'm the tightest player in history and me straddling a few times won't have much of an effect.
I'm not saying that straddling doesn't have any merits, rather that for me at the moment, the cons seem to outweigh the pros.
I've tried the pre-flop squeeze a few times from the big blind even with my mega tight image and always get called down, so extending that to a straddle doesn't seem all that smart to me.
Just an opinion and I may well be wrong. Hey ho.
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