Straddle Strategy

Wouldn't every non-UTG straddle still just be a worse version of the button straddle, which is already not quite worth it (in addition to being obnoxious and theoretically just making the game more nitty)? Most of what's been said about button straddle probably applies to straddling HJ.

Raising/betting blind fundamentally defeats the purpose of position.

It's too late to take advantage of all the great information you've gotten from everyone else's action if you've already committed the money before you even got cards.

So, like I say, I don’t do it, but considering the options, because I’ll be faced with it. How about if the CO is doing it to me, should I take it away from him and button straddle myself?

Straddles don’t tighten up the games I play in.
I get to see the CO & the Button’s information along with everyone else if I straddle the HJ.

Use the straddle to gamble it up and raise the stakes, uncomfortably for some, but paying an extra 2 or 4 BB per orbit for random cards is always going to be a leak. It's good to keep players loose and fun if the table is up for it.

Im almost certain if you gave GTO solvers an option to straddle from any position it would be never.

So straddling has to be exploitative for us to make it EV. Which begs the question has anyone claimed that they profit long term from straddling with the data to back it up?

My guess would be that any benefits of straddling are far outweighed by the negatives of putting in 2bb blind with the world still to react.

GstraddlevirginG

I’m really trying to find out what should I do when people straddle the HJ and make me act first from the button?

Don’t worry about it?
What can I do?
Am I being exploited?

It feels like it takes away my positional advantage, even though I get it back on the flop.

I can never see an advantage to posting a straddle after the big blind, but when you can post one anywhere….

There was a thread from over 12 months ago where we talked about BTN straddles, and Mlark said he'd run sims that showed it was unprofitable even against bad players if you are the only one doing it.

Lots of exploits available if you are in a game doing them though, IMO. Very common for the straddler to over defend and/or over raise. Also very common for the "normal" blinds to play terrible vs. a LP straddle (Eg. limp/call way too wide and then raise big with monsters).

It's an open system with 9 players. It's bad for you AND the straddler, and the EV goes to everyone else, largely in order of how much position they gained from the straddle.

You're not being exploited (because the person who does it isn't winning), but you're being screwed. It's bad for you.

What should you do? The same thing you should do if the person after you posts a normal straddle (which screws up your big blind defense) or even worse if the person before you posts a button straddle. Move to another seat as quickly as you can. If you can't, then you might even want to move the table. a HJ straddle is pretty terrible for you if you're in the BN, it's absolutely something that you should take seriously.

My casino only has regular straddle, but I get super tilted if the person after me does it. It's probably not even that big of a deal (people's RFI sizes are too large so you shouldn't call that much from the BB anyway, a HJ straddle when you're at the BN is probably more -EV) but it still just drives me nuts. I always try to move seats as quickly as I can.

Helpful advice prim, unfortunately I play early in the day & could be a couple hours before another table opens up - nowhere to go.

I’m still thinking I need to continue staying out of straddling myself. The only thing I can think of with the HJ is to polarize and mix in calls & raises. I agree it’s a serious problem and that’s why I’m reaching out for advice.

The only time for me is if I am faced with 2 strong players to my left and can’t escape the seat, I have button straddled to make them act first. Convinced myself that’s +EV but I’m not sure.

With the straddle going on, a lot of mistakes are being made by the population. This I know!

Not much advice out there about exploiting the straddler or the mindless people calling along.

What's the structure of your in terms of deepness of stacks versus the blinds? And how often do the dishes/whales in your game get deep?

Can you choose your seat when you sit down? Because if you know the field, you know which players like to straddle. Take that into account.

If you do end up in a situation where the straddle hurts you & you can neither switch seats nor tables, then I think you just tighten up accordingly. If you're in the BN and the HJ straddles, you're now 2nd to act on a 9-handed(?) table, like UTG+1. But you'll be in position for the rest of the hand when you get called, which should widen the range. I don't know exactly how to weigh those against each other, but you have to open some range wider than UTG+1 and tighter than the BN. Maybe LJ range. Maybe include more suited cards since those probably care more about position. But on the tight side overall since a straddle in general means you can tighten up across the board.

I don't think there's any point in polarizing. If it happens a lot, you can just sit down with whatever software you use, make whatever range you think makes sense for "BN if HJ straddles" and then try to do that at the table. Take a photograph if necessary and look at it on your phone.

(And no, I don't think straddling yourself is ever the answer.)

Any way the wind blows.
Sometimes everyone is straddling and we effectively play 3/6. Fortunately it’s rare that the game is tight. Probably have everything in between, several limp players, a couple of short-stacks, 2/5 guys trying to jack it up, aggro nutcases, loose passive, and a few pros scattered here & there.

400 buyins so people can get deep pretty quick, as some will go broke fairly quickly. There’s really only one guy trying to target me with the straddles, so I can try to avoid him.

But I’d like to have a better understanding of how to best deal with the straddling

I personally think that you should straddle the button when you want the game to play bigger.

For example, two whales on whom you have good position both have run up big stacks, and you cover them. It will be a lot easier to win their entire stacks if you straddle the button because the game will be playing effectively double the stakes for that hand.

Straddling the CO and especially the HJ are more risky.