Quote:
Originally Posted by eastcoastgrinder
In my personal experience straddle game play looser and not tighter.
Straddle on the button is not harmful to the blinds, stop been a nit. Poker player complaining about games they play in have too much action is hilarious.
I for once welcome a 45 min to 1 hour for dinner breaks. Sometimes in busy venue like MGM the time it take from ordering food and the food showing up could be 30 mins.
I Have a question about hotel room. Do we get poker rates, and how do we pay for room with our comps since it doesn't show up in Mlife?
Claiming that button straddles do not hurt the blinds indicates you don't understand how position works in poker. Obviously, if you are forced to act first in a hand where you would otherwise be allowed to act last, that it harmful. Basically, the blinds are forced to fold almost everything, often hands where they would otherwise be able to check. This is what makes the button straddle both unfair to the blinds and tighter.
I believe that a fair poker game should allow each player the opportunity to play in each position an equal number of times. This is not true if some players are straddling the button; the players in the blinds must play out of position more often than the players who are in the blinds when the button is not straddling. And they change the blinds' position of action with respect to -all- players in the game, not just the straddler.
Note that I am not complaining that the button straddles create -more- action. I think they create less action. They do make the game larger, but they also make the game shallower and tighter, meaning there is less "action" in the form of meaningful decisions.
I also don't object to UTG straddling, which although it makes the game shallower, does not force others to play tighter and does not unfairly change the order of action.
Finally, I should make it clear that I am not saying this because I am a nit. In fact, when a game allows button straddles, I almost always straddle the button because I believe it gives me an advantage. But just because I think something is advantageous to me does not mean I believe it is good for the health and fairness of the game.