Straddling is money

[Kurwood Derby]

"straddling is great and now you should do it too."

[LegoDoom]

6/12 at the Mirage two weeks ago.

The orbit before, it's folded around to the SB who has chopped before. I'm in the BB and when I see it's folded around, I ask if he wants to chop. Already having looked at his cards, he says he wants to raise and does so. Next time I'm UTG, I straddle his big blind just to let him know that I didn't like the selective non-chop. Get dealt 35o with 4 callers (including the BB), I raise my option and all call. Flop is 249 rainbow. I bet out, raise, call, the BB folds, I call. The turn is a beautiful ace to complete the rainbow. I check, the raiser bets, the other guy folds, and I then go 6 bets with the other guy before he finally calls. The river is a king and he calls my bet.

Aces are overrated.

[Lottery Larry]

Are you straddling or blind-raising? From what I've been told, they're different.

[Maulik]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you straddling or blind-raising? From what I've been told, they're different.

[/ QUOTE ]

they are very different, I've been blind raising to induce action every time when its early in the day and the casino action is flat.

[Percula]

I dont know which is more fun... straddling and getting AA or straddling and getting total donk food and hitting it hard on the flop or turn.

A favorite was in a 5-150 spread limit game (a friend was in this one not me), UTG had been straddling everytime, so as expected he did it again. He would always raise his option too. But this time he poped it to 80 to which he got a rather pissed off table and a RR to 150, to which he RR and they end up getting the RR AI and the UTG flips over AA and takes it down.

I had one this weekend playing 2-150 spread four handed and it was getting pretty bad, fold, fold, chop, fold, fold, call, check, bet, fold. So I raised dark UTG to 25 and announced I would play the hand drak to the river (yes I can be a total donk when the mood hits me). The SB and BB both call. Flop comes with 3 clubs with an ace, SB checks, BB checks, I bet 25 and the SB asks "why would you do that?!?!" to which I replied "I might have flopped a flush or have AA", SB and BB both call. Turn is a non club rag, check, check, bet 25, call, call. River another red rag, check, check, bet 25, fold, fold, for the hell of it I flip over my hand... K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] for the nut flush... "See I told you so" LAMO.

DonK Quixote lives!

[Mountainhawk]

What is with people looking at their cards when they straddle? You aren't supposed to look until at least the turn. Heck, on tilt I've played an entire hand blind, raising/betting at every chance I got.

The person that called me down was quite annoyed at my 37o becoming a full house on the turn.

[MoneyFunnel]

Kind of a hijack here but,
In your opinion, where should you try to sit if someone is straddling often? I have thought about this and come up with;
The button because you have good position (easy answer)
UG (behind the straddler) becasue a raise from you will really help narrow the field and you only really play great starting hands from that position anyway.

[MisterKing]

[ QUOTE ]
Kind of a hijack here but,
In your opinion, where should you try to sit if someone is straddling often? I have thought about this and come up with;
The button because you have good position (easy answer)
UG (behind the straddler) becasue a raise from you will really help narrow the field and you only really play great starting hands from that position anyway.

[/ QUOTE ]

To their immediate right, so you can re-straddle, of course. What kind of card player has to even ask this question? GOD.

Ok, in all seriousness, I'd say you actually would want to be somewhere near their right, maybe not immediately but at least close. Here's why: playing versus straddle's is tougher than you think, and the key is (if possible) to isolate the straddle with a 3-bet when you're holding a solid hand.

Thinking players in later position will suspect you've isolated with a wide range of hands (could be true, so mix it up a little) and cap it to re-isolate you. If the table is tight-passive (why you'd be playing in such a game is beyond me), this won't happen, and you'll often be heads up or 3-handed. Feel free to isolate with a huge range of hands if this is the case. If the table is loose-passive, I gather you'd want to be on his right to have commanding position (since re-raises in EP will not isolate in a loose-passive game) in what will likely be a very large pot.

If the table is loose aggressive, then sitting a few seats to the straddler's right again sounds attractive. Many other players will try to isolate and re-isolate, and you'll have position on all of them. Cherry pick pots with your strongest hands... At least that sounds like a reasonable plan to me.

[tpir90036]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you straddling or blind-raising? From what I've been told, they're different.

[/ QUOTE ]
Does anyone on this forum actually play poker?

[Maulik]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Are you straddling or blind-raising? From what I've been told, they're different.

[/ QUOTE ]
Does anyone on this forum actually play poker?

[/ QUOTE ]

I sure do, and creating action is part of poker.