I'm not a fan of the button straddle, but it's a fact of life. I also haven't seen much discussion of how people play against it. What kinds of hands are you raising, and for how much?

I would open 4-5x and a tighter range at each position than if blinds were normal. For example from HJ I would probably open my mp range.

standard at my 1/3 game is 20 over a 6$ btn straddle. Some do 25, some do 15. I do 20 from every position + 5 per limper.

Does anyone know what the theoretically correct sizing is against button straddles? I play some 2/5 games with a button straddle that gets either ultimate last or last to act unless 3bet before button. Also, action starts at UTG, skips button and goes to SB, BB, then button.

I know the GTO Wizard solved range in a low rake 6max UTG straddle game has the SB open 6.5 bb over a 2bb straddle, almost a pot sized raise. And BB open raises to 6, also almost a pot sized raise. Other positions open to 5 at 200 straddles deep, similar to a standard 2.5 bb raise unstraddled. At 100 straddles deep it is 4.5bb from UTG and CO and 5bb from button, also similar to unstraddled raises.

I guess the theory would be that when the straddle is in position to us, we should raise for larger to give them worse odds, but at the same time, from earlier positions, we would want to raise less than on say, the cutoff since we are more likely to face strong 3bets where we will be out of position.

Seems like maybe the theoretical approach would follow the sizing used from small blind vs an UTG straddle, about 3.5x straddles. So in a 2/5/10 game, 35? Only concern is from earlier position, we are more likely to end up facing a large 3bet, which gives us some incentive to size down a little.

Normally when the straddle/big blind is out of position, we are incentivised to raise really small so they have some calls that are 0 EV or really low + EV, but more + EV for us. Like in 6 max at 200 straddles deep, when UTG opens to 5, straddle mixes call with 54o. It is a 0 EV call for them that is + EV for us. Even 86o is a call 26% of the time, 92s 17% of the time.

So the button straddle defend range should be even wider since they are in position.

So I guess the question is, does button straddle underdefend or overdefend? The more they under defend small sizing, the more incentived we are to go smaller. I think a fair amount of people would underdefend hands like 86o, maybe 54o, although I think people understand they are getting a really good price in position. I think they might underdefend a little more facing a 3x or 3.5x raise though. There are those players that will defend any 2 suited cards and a lot of offsuit cards in the straddle /BB, but then there are a lot of players good enough to know that a hand like J2s or K9o are bad hands, but maybe not good enough to know they should defend these hands in the straddle / BB.

This has me thinking. Vs button straddle, 2.5x vs the under defenders, 3-3.5x vs the normal defenders, and 4-5x+ vs very weak players we want to get involved in big pots with.

3.5x sounds and being nitty about right to me.

I've been messing around with min raising it. More people get out of the way than you'd think. Of course, people don't think just in BBs. They signed up to play 2/5, not 2/5/10 or whatever. So they might not be rolled for 2/5/10 or comfortable with the pot sizes and a min raise is still a 4x relative to the game they wanted to play. (This is part of the reason button straddles suck, and even something like mandatory UTG straddles can suck). It's very easy to just dump the marginal hands and move on.

This also puts the straddler in a weird situation. He either calls really wide, which sort of sucks for him, even when it's correct. To some degree, he is effectively playing a 2/5 game where he is constantly making terrible calls of 4x raises OTB. Or, he folds too much. It's just a strange spot that I think is awkward for most people.

I play in games where they have the correct rules and the action starts UTG, so the blinds aren't getting completely screwed. The button normally acts last, but he must act before the blinds if there is a raise. This makes things harder for the button, as he can still get squeezed.

Splitsuit Sweeney at the Poker Bank has just posted a video about Mississippi straddles on the button:



Here are some things to think about when considering how to adjust to a straddle:

• The pot starts out bigger. There is more in the pot to play for, and that makes it more tempting to play. Both attacking and defending ranges are going to be a bit wider than they otherwise might be.
• Postflop stack-to-pot ratio is cut in half. This affects range composition -- see, e.g., the difference between MTT GTO ranges for 100bb and 50bb.
• Button straddler has position for the rest of the hand. This affects what sorts of hands the opener chooses to play, in that the attacker's range must be more linear, and put less emphasis on draws and implied odds -- it is tough to realize equity out of position. Note, though, that the halved SPR reduces the button's positional advantage.