It is never "scummy" for someone not to want to straddle. Some of these comments are completely ridiculous. The rules of poker are not set by a particular table's vote.

They absolutely do want that, for that very reason.

The ideal game in most poker rooms would be shorter stacks, probably with lots of bomb pots. Their interests are things like game speed, maximizing rake, table retention, keeping recs engaged, etc... not what's in the actual best interest of the serious-minded poker players.

triple blind games are awesome but they rarely go.

for a little while parx was getting 5/5/10 plo as the official game and it seemed that would go 2-3 times a week and 5/5 the other days. that lasted a few months but I haven't seen it at all for a while.

I've played where everyone agrees if they miss a straddle the post everything when they come back- or at least when they buy the button so someone doesn't get hit twice in a row. But usually that's not the case. If someone doesn't want to straddle twice in a row I don't care. Generally I will straddle twice in a row. I won't if a few people already aren't straddling or if they guy on my right magically keeps missing his straddle. If once or twice a night someone comes back from a break and I get hit with it twice it's not a big deal. sometimes it also skips you. I do try and time my bathroom breaks to not miss the straddle.

Basically my approach to poker is don't be buzz kill and nitpick over weird bullshit that in the grand scheme of things means nothing when it's just organic. The game is way better and more profitable this way. When someone is clearly taking advantage of you then **** them.

It is scummy if it's a game you know basically always has a straddle and you're a reg. You know what the real game is so don't take advantage.
If some random dude who plays once in a while doesn't want to straddle who cares. he's there to have fun and not scum the game for every little edge.
The regs who do this are always bad for the game in 10 other ways, small winners at best and just parasites in general.
Any local players in whatever room they play in knows what the "real" game is. In lower stakes especially NL no straddle seems to be the standard. In plo 5/5 and above in my experience it's often a straddle game.

I've had times I've thought about playing a bigger game and then see it's straddled and sometimes even double straddled and if that's too big for me I simply won't play.

Another scummy move I just remembered- someone asks for a round of straddles. I have zero problem if someone says no and I will even defend them if people try and pressure them. But if someone clearly hears it, says NOTHING, then when it's their turns doesnt straddle I will give them the **** they rightfully deserve.

Just incredibly common in the plo games I’ve played to the point it’s almost part of the game. Think plo players just want 3 blind/more blind structures. It’s a part of live poker which causes lots of issues and I wish the casinos just structured games better to reflect player pools preferences but because they don’t things like this occur.

In nlhe I would want games that offered an ante but only really exist/is offered in high stakes private type games and bellagio’s 10-20 or 20-40 I think.

You should be auto straddling if everyone else is - it's good for the games health, and you're raising the stakes against a table you should have an edge on. Why you wouldn't want to raise the stakes against bad players is beyond me - maybe if you hate money or are a losing player. The more fun you are to recs the more money you'll make - if you play poker on any serious level live you should realize this.

Common misconception but straddles do not encourage looser play. A big blind ante would encourage looser play but I’ve only ever seen that at Bellagio T20+.

If you knew anything about poker, you would realize that having a small blind to stack ratio is better for good players.

But my comment had nothing to do with straddles being a good idea or not. Wanting to play a game with the stakes listed is not scummy.

Yeah. This was me recently, kinda. Wasn't strictly shot taking as I play 5/10 sometimes, but I don't play poker full time and 5/10 is big enough. I usually buy in for $1500-2000. I have some amount of depth to play with and care about the money the right amount. In other words, I like playing 5/10 no limit hold 'em.

Table full of D-bags, mandatory straddle. Also endless debate about various bomb pot games slowing the game down to a crawl. Some will play bomb game X, but sit out if game Y is dealt. Awful.

So, I nitted up with my 75 bbs or whatever. Booked a small win. Got both bored and annoyed and left.

10/20 and higher were available. As others have said, you can just go sit in those. Moreover, if I take a shot at 10/20 I really want to take a shot at 10/20. I want to sit in a 10/20 game, play 10/20 players and see what the experience is like and if I can hang.

it is if you know the listed stakes are really bullshit.

also your bb/100 may be higher without the straddle but I'm sure my $ win rate is higher in straddle games if you're counting the bb as 5 for 5/5 but as 10 for 5/5/10 for example with the same stacks. I don't care about bb/hr i care about $/hour.

You are correct Borg. Straddling makes the game better 95% of the time, higher hourly for pros and more fun for recs who gamble. People against the straddle are either nits or under rolled for the game 99%.

I'm not sure if you guys are correct with your numbers. One time last month I was the only player at the table not straddling. It was like that for the whole night, over five hours. You would think I would have a big advantage, but wasn't. I lost over $1000 that night.

Just to be clear, I was totally messing with you guys above, how frustrated did that make sure for a couple seconds. But on a more serious note, if I ever run a home game, neither of you will be invited. For the love of all things poker, never talk like that at an actual poker table, unfortunately I have heard way to many people do just that.

Reading this thread just now has inspired me to head over to Parx. Didn't think I was going to play tonight, but now I'm feeling it. Figure either

a) can get in a good game, have an enjoyable time, maybe even win

or

b) if I get stuck in a shitty game, I can just refuse to straddle and piss off those players which made it a **** game in the first place!

It would really terrible if I get stuck in situation B and then got crushed as well and had to walk off with my tail between my legs.

+1, the 10/10 game at Parx is very deceptive as straddles are pretty much customary

The funny thing is none of them wants to play the listed 10/20 game. As a rec live player it's really annoying to choose between 2/5 or 10/10/20 with nothing in between

This is what often happens live.
The next highest steak is often way bigger especially once buy ins become uncapped.

The whales like to straddle

So what do you expect players who are underrolled for the game with a straddle but fine without it? Just screw those guys?

If its customary to straddle in the game you should either, 1) sell action or 2) drop down in stakes

What about in the situation for fast 11375 above? Or zrap? The room offers a stake he wants to play. It also offers a stake the straddlers want to play. But instead of playing it, they're messing up the stakes.

It might sill not help him be more comfortable if he just doesn't straddle while others still do, but IMO he would be well within his rights to do so. If anyone else has a problem with it, they can try to officially change the stakes of the game.

In zrap's case, apparently the reason the regs don't want to play the officially bigger game is it has a higher time charge? Who's the nit in that case?

The regs don't want to start the new game bc there wasn't a fish (or a critical mass of players) who wanted to play 10/20. That is always the case for new games not getting off the ground. Who's to say the 10/20 game won't also be straddled?

If the fish want to straddle in the 5/10 game and the nits don't want to straddle, the nit is the bad actor.

If nobody wants to straddle except the angry regs, and they are bulling, the reg is the bad actor.


My point is, live is not like online 100bb cap games. In some games it's customary to play much deeper, or straddle. So just because you are rolled to play 100bb deep 5/10 doesn't mean its within your right to sit down and not straddle when the table wants to.

If you are uncomfortable playing 10/10/20 play 2/5, how is that a question? Hell that game might have a straddle going a decent percentage of hands and you'll get the exact stakes you asked for!

Wrong, They specifically said they don't want to play the other game because of the higher time charge. Sounds nitty to me.

The person not wanting to straddle is not the bad actor, and he's not even the nit. The regs who don't want to pay the higher time charge are the nits.

The most important thing about a straddle is how you fling the chips and what you say. If you call it a stroodle, 50% more people will want to stroodle. If you fling the chips in the air like a celebration, everyone is your friend. If you straddle and laugh and ham it up and check even when you have an easy steal spot, people will enjoy playing even if they end up losing a few bucks. All this talk of surly ass JRB getting invited to these games is because most people are just not that much fun to gamble with. He is a whale who thinks he is a pro, that's why he's in all these games. The other real option is just to be fun, get involved in the table talk, cut people breaks, treat people like humans and not numbers you're trying to acquire. This straddle debate is the exact thing that makes people stop going to games eventually.

They are saving face, you want them to say "no whales wanted to play 10/20"?

You are socially unaware, probably why you think not straddling is acceptable.

Lol, ok, we'll believe you rather than the person who is in the game and the regs who told him about it.

I'm not "socially unaware", but my money doesn't care about social formalities. Playing according to the rules is not rude. Bullying someone to bet money they don't want to bet is very rude.