outside of piranah post, not many people have touched on some of the most important factors (and likely never take them into account in their ev calcs).

For example, everyone thinks the question is not whether its +EV to straddle but whether its more +EV to straddle than not.... thats doens't tell the whole story....

often the question is whether its +EV to straddle when our opponent(s) now also start straddling or is it better to just play normal 3 handed, etc.. etc..

There's a market, and I believe the market figures this ou. At the Bellagio in the 1k-2k game does anyone straddle? Legit approach to answering the straddle controversy imho, jokes aside.

Weirdly last night I played 3 handed Lhe for hours with one wild player and one good one. The wild player would straddle button sporadically so what I did was when he straddled his button I did the same the next hand, but if he didn't, I didn't. I think it's not great for the game but I do think it's an edge. The other strong player mimicked my decision there as well which makes me think I have it right.

Pretty fun game. We later did optional posted kill blind of any size and that size would dictate the betting limits that hand. I suspect leaves would not have found this fun but I enjoyed watching a 75/150 game turn into 250/500 because wild guy posted 250 kill blind.

Such a random crap shoot, that's why I went home

I'd need a hell'a roll. Even outclassed has to be +ev. No seat DD?

There are times to go aggro with bankroll, but I prefer games where my decions matter the most. I do not want to chip off 1/4 of my br in a straddle game, especially w selection.

Let me guess. Cap for the kill was 250 ?And floor allowed it?
3-handed with a straddle is fun !!!

I'd risk like 150 bb out of a 750 bb roll, and hate every minute.

Not sure what you mean but game was 3-5 handed all night

So confused. 3 handed LHE and you chose not to straddle BTN every hand why?

Oh you played misread your post

Going along with the group can't be disadventageous.

I think it's bad for the game. It's not a big difference in EV no matter what. I don't want button straddles to become common place at my casino and people all copy what they see. So I just do it when others are doing it so I don't give anything up. I pretty much feel like it's like seat changing a bunch, yes it's +EV, it's not great for the game, but I won't let people take advantage of me too much.

The same reason you don't change seats when the game gets short.

Besides the reasons DD pointed out it should be somewhat obvious that you don't want to straddle he button when one player is voluntarily posting a 2.5x kill if he wins 2 hands.

There has to be a lot of leveling, bluffing in this game, and calling down with what would ordinarily look like "weak hands", since there's so much in there. It takes a lot of adjustment. I've run into a few of these in the past weeks. It's probably worth more study than I initially thought.

One argument that has been made is that our EV goes up because our opponents do not correctly adjust to the new dynamics.

In a hypothetical example that both villains adjust perfectly to the straddle, does our EV still increase relative to not straddling?

Yes b/c we can win the blinds outright by straddling. We can't accomplish this by limping or folding. I'd also be more likely to straddle against weak tight or loose passive opponents. We gain nothing by straddling against a superlag and a balanced crusher.

Straddle games are amazing. Quitting a straddle game is insanity! These are some of the best games I get to sit in and encourage it as much as possible.

1) You get to play more postflop
2) People play horribly preflop in this dynamic.
3) Wider ranges cause many horrible postflop mistakes that are highly exploitable for experienced short handed pros.
4) You get to play every hand... what's not to like? =D

Higher winrates generally come with higher variance~ Unless you like playing small stakes like the yellow brick road that is live 20/40 where no one raises.

Hm. What if someone's biggest leak is that they play too many hands OTB? Now they are unwittingly correcting their leak.

They are probably a crusher if this is their biggest leak and you should consider a different game.

For the most part, the biggest leak 3 handed of live players is loose passivity in the small blind. If people are going to cold call the straddle a ton, then you can really crush them fast by playing bloated pots IP.

SB can do well, imho in this straddle game, and 3-bet lots of hands w equity. Also, you have to mix up how to play the BB between calling, and re-raising w AX,KX,QX.

Can do and will do are very different things with live players. I've seen guys flat a BTN straddle with ATo in the SB.

i was about to LOLLLL your other post where you said you could profitably straddle b/c that's obviously false. but here i see more what you're saying, that you can adjust way better than your 2 other opponents and will thus more than make up for the loss.

you speak badly though. you mean: i can play a mandatory straddle game and make more than a typical nonstraddle 3 handed lhe game with the same people.

i agree with this assuming that's what you meant.

if you literally mean you can play profitably IN the straddle spot, then you're wrong and no even semirealistic simulation could possibly show that.

Only hand I'd consider slowplaying is AA, and I think it'd be ridiculous to slow play it, but what do I know. The straddler is almost always a rando drunk who would just assume raise anyway OTB so it plugs his leak as phunkphish pointed out.