Playing against a straddle

[DrPublo]

What's the general 2+2 opinion on playing against players who routinely straddle? Does your range of raising hands go up or down? Is it ever right to limp against a straddler? What if there are already straddle-limpers in and you hold a hand like TT-QQ?

I ask because of a hand I played in Vegas last week, 2-5 NL. Villian (staddler) has ~ $220, I have him covered but not by a ton.

Villain straddles for $10, I'm UTG+1 with T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]T [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. I raise to $40, one caller and straddler calls.

Do people not raise here? Shouldn't I want to thin the field against the straddler? I'd be happy to take down the straddle + blinds with TT.

Anyway, flop ($127) comes T [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 6 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].

Straddler pushes, I push on top (but not for a lot more), LP folds. He flopped a flush (with Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]) but I caught a running pair to win.

I think the flop play is fine but my question is what to do with a strong but not great hand early against a straddle?

The Doc

[limon]

straddle play is mandatory if you plan on moving from homo/online poker or max. buy poker to REAL games. if you are in a game where people routinely play back at the straddler than you need a hand that can stand a re-raise to raise because people are going to view your raise as a playback and re-jack you with smaller pairs or AJ suited. now its all player dependant in the end but when the first line of raising no longer means what it did before the game doubles in size and the second raise now represents the values of the first raise before...you have to be willing to really make a read and jam somebody.

if NO ONE is routinely playing back at the straddler...jam at will, limping hands should now be raising hands.

oh, and dont be a mope, try straddling yourself sometimes or youll never be able to read a straddler correctly.

[turnipmonster]

I straddle probably 25% of the time in my game. if a bunch of people limp in you can raise the pot and take it down, sometimes you wake up with a real hand, you get to act last preflop, it's good for image, I think it's great.

I rarely limp when someone else straddles because limping in is basically asking the straddler to raise and take control and probably the pot. it really depends on the straddler, some people will raise the pot every time and some people will just check it if they don't have a hand. so it depends, but be more cautious about limping and know the straddler might raise you with not a lot.

--turnipmonster

[Wayfare]

"straddle play is mandatory if you plan on moving from homo/online poker or max. buy poker to REAL games."

Welcome back limon, I was starting to miss the acidic flavor of your posts. Very good advice though.