Hi all,
I wanted to hear about your general approaches to straddles. I feel pretty confident that there are significant leaks in my game when it comes to straddled pots. How do you all adjust your strategies when your at a deep 1/2 table that essentially becomes 2/5 with everyone straddling. If you feel that you generally crush a table that does this I'd love to hear specific open raising, open limping, overlimping, limp-reraise, limp-call, raising limpers IP, straddle squeeze ranges etc..
I feel like my general approach to straddle pots so far where I basically play my normal 1/2 strategy at a one half stack depth has not been optimal. Reasons for this.. There seems to be a lot of value to just getting into these pots against loose fish and whales, even at the expensive of playing OOP against a competent LAG or 2.. My style is a tighter than most TAG style and I generally do not open limp with the intent of calling a raise from a good LAG, but it seems that I should potentially be widening the range of hands I do that with?? As well as widening my limp-reraise range which is also pretty narrow. I'm considering opening these pots even tighter than I have been since I just tend to get 4-5 callers everytime OOP at competent tables. I'm considering an open range as tight as QQ+ AKs with perhaps more speculative hands than I usually would include to get those hands to a large pot multiway well disguised. Then I would drastically widen my limping range to say suited broadways, AJ+?, 22+, A2s+, some of my QQ, KK, AA when there is a greater chance of being re-raised. I'm definitely very unsure on where to draw the line on these ranges, obviously as more loose fish/whale types enter the pot and position gets better the ranges should widen. Any help/specifics from people who are confident at a LAG table straddling every hand is greatly appreciated.
I also think a leak in my approach to these pots is assuming the LAGS are wider than they actually are at times. That seems to be part of the beauty in a straddle happy "Action" table that induces lots of loose play. Any insight into what sort of ranges a competent lag is punishing the limpers with out of the straddle or IP is greatly appreciated. The dynamics here get even more complicated when the tight players start limping from early position.
Are players also committing post-flop more loosely than they would be in un-straddled pots? Obviously yes, because SPR is much lower but I feel like I just need to accept a drastic increase in variance If I want to play these pots more profitably.
I have a couple hands to share where I think there was a significant leak..
1st hand, end of the night typical regish LAG table. Competent LAG immediately to my left. Brief history: I sit down, an orbit goes around 4-5 people straddle. next orbit, I straddle, LAG blind raises to 10$?, folds around to me I call with Q6o checks through to river. I stab with Q high he calls with K high. Next hand LAG straddles, 2 limpers, SB folds, I call in BB QJdd. LAG checks, AcTd4d, I lead for 20$ LAG calls, rest fold.. turn is 6d, I check LAG bets 50$, I tank jam for 100$ more he says ace no good? and folds.
OTTH:
LAG on my left straddles, another reg limps in MP, folds to hero in BB with 9
9
Hero (~300$) raises to 25$? I thought this was a decent spot to raise even though we are OOP against 2 good players, I could also get behind limp calling..
LAG calls, MP folds..
flop (56$) 8
3
3
Hero leads for 55$
Villain tanks, looks genuinely frustrated and the says "**** it" all in. Tells me he will show after I don't snap call. Trying to put him on a range I was thinking he probably had either TT, JJ, or flush draw combos like JTs KQs QTs etc.. he could also have 88, and maybe some A8s?? bottom line I'm not doing very well against this range even though it was a great flop for me.. I ended up leveling myself into a call after thinking he was playing a wider range defending his straddle, playing aggressive etc.
2nd hand: brief history: at a different table, LAG straddles, Tight reg limps UTG, another limp, Hero has 99 CO makes it 30$, folds to UTG who calls, Kxx rainbow. Villain has around 130$, I thought he could have JJ TT and fold, I bet 35$ and he jammed. I folded, someone said he probably had AK, I think his limping range was pretty tight here and I made a mistake.
OTTH:
At this same table which is now 7-handed and straddling 100% Hero has a very tight image, LAG straddles, tight UTG limps, Hero (335$) has J
J
CO makes it 25$, B seems on tilt calls, straddle calls, UTG calls,
Flop (103$) Q
9
7
checks to hero... damnit idk what to do here.. check folding seems best but possibly there are enough draws and middle pairs to get value from, I don't want to bet and then check turn and then face a bet on a likely much worse board. At the same time, my range pre is so much stronger than theirs that It makes me sick to give up on this pot. I check, B bets 50$, straddle and UTG fold, I call..
Turn (203$) Q
9
7
4
I check, B bets 110$, I decided that he could fold a Q here against me and had enough semi-bluffs. I bluff-jammed for 145$ more. He tanked with AQ, said he put me on AA KK and AQ and that we could be chopping, he said he couldn't go anywhere "whatever" and eventually called. This seems just like a spew to me, but if he folds KQ and worse it is actually probably ok. But yeah, I think I tend to tell myself that my opponents are wider than they actually are in these straddle pots at loose tables, even though they are showing up with reasonable hands that are doing very well against me JJ, AK, AQ etc.
These might not be the best hands to start a discussion with, so if you have guys have any others that you think are relevant please share. I'm really trying to gain more insight into what sort of ranges good regs are playing these straddle pots with and how I should be adjusting. Any advice is appreciated thanks