Science of straddling

	The biggest reason to straddle is to loosen the game up on the whole – as it increases your potential for profit

If you’ve ever played poker in a casino or in home games, you will probably have heard the word ‘straddle’ at the table. A straddle is a voluntary extra bet, usually double the size of the big blind, put into the pot by the player to the left of the big blind before they see their cards. So for example, in a $2/$4 game, a player would straddle to $8. Straddles are ‘live’, meaning that the person who posts a straddle has the option to act last before the flop.

The rules for straddling vary from place-to-place. In some card rooms, a straddle will be a pot-sized raise (to $14 in a $2/$4 game). Usually only one straddle is allowed, but some places allow as many straddles as the players want, so you can straddle, re-straddle, mega- straddle, and even ultra-megastraddle if you like. It’s important to know what the rules are for straddling in your chosen card room – but you will usually find out pretty quickly if your table is even remotely loose.

If you don’t know how to act when someone throws in a straddle, you’ll find yourself making difficult decisions in some very large pots. A straddle often affects the play of everybody at the table; some people loosen up and become extremely aggressive, going after the extra money. Others tighten up and wait for premium hands.

At this stage, I should point out that the advice I’m about to dish out is tailored to the most common cash game scenario: everybody has plenty of chips, it’s a full table, and the straddle is double the big blind. If this isn’t the case in your game, you may need to tailor these strategies a bit in order to get the best out of them.

KEY POINT

The basic straddle is usually double the big blind and is put into the pot by the player to the left of the big blind. It allows the straddler to act last before the flop

LOOSE FIT

First, let’s look at how a straddle affects the pot odds you receive. In a standard game where the big blind is double the small blind, you get 1.5/1 to call before the flop as the first person in. Taking our $2/$4 example, there is $6 in the pot, and it’s $4 to call – that’s 6/4, or 1.5/1. With a straddle, there is now $14 in the pot, and it’s $8 to call. This equates to 1.75 /1 odds. What does this mean? It means you should loosen up a little bit. You’re getting better odds to call or raise than you were without the straddle in the pot. How you loosen up depends on the other players at your table.

By far the most common scenario is that the other players will become very loose and aggressive after a straddle, particularly if they were that way inclined before. They will enter the pot determined to see the flop. You should play more hands unless you’re in early position, being careful not to allow your opponents to price you out of the pot.

The ideal hand to have in this situation is something like 7?-6? or 5?-5? – easy hands to play after the flop because you usually either hit big or miss altogether – as well as hands like 10?-8? or Q?-9?. Don’t play hands like K?-8? or J?-5?, these play terribly in multi-way pots and you’ll end up with some tough decisions to make.

TIGHT GRIP

Against opponents of this nature, you should rarely enter the pot for a raise if you’re first in. The best way to take advantage of players who are too loose and too aggressive is to trap them. If you’re first in, limp and wait for your opponents to raise. Then when it gets back to you, you can re-raise if your hand is strong or you think your opponents will fold or flat-call to try to catch a nice flop.

Entering the pot for a raise may seem like the right thing to do – after all, the pot is bigger and therefore has more value to you. But you’ll almost never take down the pot immediately and most of the money won or lost will be as a result of post-flop play. If you raise, you’ll allow your opponents to prevent you from seeing the flop with a hand like 7?-6? by re-raising.

In the rare scenario where your opponents actually tighten up against a straddle, you should become much more aggressive while also loosening up a little. Remember that the straddle has essentially raised without looking at his cards, and he will defend the straddle almost every time. It would be ideal to isolate on this one player, and to play a heads-up pot in position against a player who probably has a rag hand.

You should then enter the pot with a raise of at least three-and-a-half times the straddle, as you want the straddle to make a significant mistake if they call. Anything less offers the straddle reasonable pot odds. You should also play hands that do well heads-up – like high cards and pairs.

After the flop, you would play your usual strategy, bearing in mind that if the straddle has entered the pot they could have almost anything. Don’t get carried away and bluff too much or call down with Ace-high just because somebody has straddled and probably has a weak hand. Play solid, and you’ll get the money often enough.

KEY POINT

A straddle usually has the effect of loosening up a table. If this is the case, it’s a perfect opportunity to try and trap those players who have considerably lowered their starting hand requirements

FROWNING GLORY

For a long time, straddling was frowned upon by professionals. After all, you’re putting money into the pot without looking at your cards, and if you’re going to do that, you may as well go and play blackjack. But today, you see many professionals straddling on TV shows like High Stakes Poker. They are doing it for a reason – there are some benefits to straddling. So why do it yourself?

First of all, if there is an agreement to straddle at the table, you should do it as well. A straddle agreement is just an agreement to raise the stakes, and if you don’t like that, you should find a different table to play at (or learn to argue better). If everybody agrees to straddle and you don’t, you’ll quickly become unpopular.

If you post a straddle, you’ll get position before the flop. We all know the importance of position, and while you’re in a bad position post-flop, the advantage of acting last pre-flop is not to be underestimated. You’ll also give yourself a loose table image. You may sit there folding every hand for hours, then straddle – and it’s the straddle that your opponents will remember. One well-timed straddle could give you an image that helps to get paid off on your big hands all night.

However, the biggest reason to straddle is to loosen up the game as a whole, as it increases your potential for profit. Most people know that they should loosen up when there is a straddle, but often they take it too far and play almost any hand in any position. You might find that the guy who has been sat there patiently waiting for Aces all night suddenly limps in with 9?-7?.

Even better, these tight players may not be used to playing marginal hands after the flop, so they’ll be put to some difficult decisions. When that happens, they make mistakes, and mistakes equal money in your pocket.

A word of caution, however. Remember that straddling is not a profitable play unless you can take advantage of it appropriately. That means you must be one of the strongest players at the table, and able to play well after the flop. Don’t fall in love with your hand and don’t chase the money that you have ‘invested’ any more than you would defend an ordinary blind. You’ll still loosen up the game and force tight players to make mistakes even if you fold on the flop every time.