Talk me out of these reasons for voluntarily putting on the UTG straddle.

If you want to put in an extra blind when the BB is normally the least profitable spot at the table, that's on you.

I could maybe see an argument for a button straddle, but the utg straddle is just lighting money on fire.

I also feel like (but this might be a personal thing) people play more correct (ie. tighter) when the straddle is on. A few rounds of this can really kill a great game where I play.

I don't normally table select, but if more than one person is straddling at the table i am at, then I am out. My winrate is probably close to double at non straddling tables.

A straddle is great for the game, you keep doing you.

As often with things that are great for the game, they are usually negative ev. No matter how you justify it, putting in money blind with a random hand is minus ev in the long run, yes the ev loss is less at a table full of donks compared to a table full of killers but its a loss regardless.

But hey if your having fun who cares what other people say.

P.s : i would prefer all full ring tables to be 3 blinds honestly

My approach is - do it if the game is in a lull to try to get people to open up a bit and play more hands and get more into the game, do this maybe 2 orbits and always make it obvious you're doing it.

If it works stop doing it.

If it doesn't work stop doing it.

everyone loses out of the bb over whatever sample you want to look at. voluntarily playing another bb per orbit (at higher stakes) seems like a poor strategic decision. most of your reasons just seem like justifications to me

but life is short and live is boring so its probably whatever. if you're trying to actually win / plug leaks i think that would be a fairly large one to fix immediately though. most of your points seem to add little ev to your overall strategy, but i think the one nebulous ev gain is will my opponents play worse vs me if i am straddling and will that compensate the ev loss? idk. live poker is generally about trading small mistakes for your opps making larger ones later but your post doesn't really strike me as that

Those are great reasons to straddle! Don't listen to anyone here.

"I understand that voluntarily putting the UTG straddle on, in a game where not everyone is also doing it, is theoretically negative EV. ..."

Just clarifying what has been previously stated. Any blind money posted is auto-losing. So even when everyone is doing it, it's still losing. That's just the nature of posting blinds. The only thing that changes if you are the sole one-doing it is providing an ev handicap to the others. Playing optimally, I think the expectation of posting the straddle utg is probably losing like .7str (2xbb) longterm. In your game, assuming an 8 hour run time (16 orbits approx), that's about $67.20 ($4.20 per occurence x orbits played). The question (like you're asking) is whether that edge gratuity you provide can be made up for by your opponent's mistakes in relation to it i.e trading mistakes for mistakes.

"1. I'm in a loose-passive, limp-happy/call-happy 1/3 game, where my normal-sized ($15) UTG raises are getting multiple callers, but rarely getting 3B, and everyone folds if I size up and open to a larger size. Straddling UTG for $6 at least gives me the opportunity to act last pre-flop, and put in a big raise to iso all the dead money from the limpers, as opposed to playing a SRP super-multi-way and OOP."

In general, agreed. If *multiple* players are playing an imbalanced limp strategy where their limp-call and limp-fold gap is too wide, you can print. The EV can go up if when called pre, their range is either too weak to continue to a standard cb strategy or if they overfold (ex, dumping combos that should continue to b20). EV will go down if you get called, cb incorrectly vs their strategy/tendencies. EV also goes up if bb/sb play incorrectly as well. The part I disagree with is how you view this is as the best solution for playing SRP multiway/OOP. There are other ways of doing this including developing a limp strategy that includes limp-call, limp-raise non-all-in to multiple sizes, limp-raise all in. You could also just be a total nit up front. Worth thinking about.

"2. We're playing deep, but most of the players in the game aren't likely to know how to properly adjust when the straddle is on. They don't know how to adjust their open ranges or sizes, or deal with the larger 3B sizes. They may not be comfortable playing bigger pots after running up a big stack, and will make more mistakes both pre and post-flop. Putting the straddle on reduces the likelihood of being in a situation where we have to ask "do we have a 4B/5B range here, or does V"."

Whether this favors straddling or not isverytable dependent. The issue here is playing deep stacks does not favor OOP squeezing light, which is part of how you intend to generate EV straddling. I would be slow to make judgments about how they adjust without seeing some hands first. That's not saying this isn't a fair point but to be sure about what you are saying here before actioning it. As to reducing the likelihood of uncomfortable 4b/5b spots, you can just study that and solve your problem.

"3a. Most of the opponents at the table will continue to limp, even for twice as much, but will be less likely to call a raise when the raise is larger."

I think this is part of point 1.

"3b. Maybe one or two opponents to our right are on the aggro side, and will be tempted to attack the limpers with a wider range when they're in LP, allowing us to squeeze more from the straddle, to punish the limpers, and the aggro opponents trying to steal the pot from LP."

I think this will hurt your EV. If they are aggro and you are the only one straddling, you will end playing str OOP vs a type that will lower your EQR postflop. Planning to attack their widened aggression by widening yours can work if they aren't re-adjusting to your aggression. Again, be careful. Also. If they are in the blinds, you lose the free blind EV since they will battle.

"4. I like saying "strudel" when I put the straddle on. I know this is juvenile, but I do it anyway.

5. I like seeing the look on the faces of players who aren't paying attention, when being told that it's $6, not $3, if they want to play their hand. Again, juvenile, but I take my pleasure where I can get it."

The misclick call is good for your EV. And maybe either of these tilting your opponents has some unquantifiable EV as well. =
"
I'm probably missing some good arguments in favor of putting the straddle on. Maybe it decreases the frequency of the OMC limp-raise. Maybe it increases the frequency of short-stack jams. I've been in some games where the straddle effectively kills the action, but in others where it seems to spark full on pre-flop madness."

Yes, it's going to be table dependent whether it's profitable. Discerning which context you are in will heavily impact whether this wins you money in the long run.

Straddling is unequivocally -EV. But it is good if you want to increase the stakes and you can get other people to straddle. It's like bringing a dish to Thanksgiving dinner. If more than half the table will straddles, or I think I can get more than half the table to straddle, I will do it. If I am not able to make it happen, I might stop. I also may leave the table or the cardhouse.

Being the only one straddling draws not only minus ev but also unwanted attention. I like your reasons. It sounds like you enjoy the strategy. Are you exploitable? I suspect you’ll make more just playing 2/5.

Doing it for the 4th listed bullet point alone should have ended any arguments against.

I think the answer to this question comes down to a question of what your goals are for playing poker.

If you are playing poker to have fun, you should straddle if you want to. It can make the game better, and it will create a lot more interesting and playable spots for you. Playing the game for fun and making the occasional -EV play doesn't preclude you from being a good player, a winning player, a thinking player, etc.

But if you are playing poker specifically to make money, you should not straddle UTG. There is no way that this play is going to increase your winrate for the reasons discussed by other posters above.

UTG straddle plain sucks I almost never do it unless the table is super low action or I am running hot. However the Button straddle I love being able to close the action from an already advantageous spot is awesome.