Straddle Blind Bets in Poker

Almost all of the betting actions made in a poker hand are voluntary. The only exception to this is the forced bet, which usually kicks off the action in a poker game. The most widely used kind of forced bet is the blind or the blind bet, which involves having one or more players -usually two- placing their bets into the pot in order to simulate the bets made during an actual betting round.

A favorite kind of blind used in most community card poker games is the small blind and big blind combination. In this two-blind structure, the player to the left of the dealer posts the small blind, which is usually half of what would be placed in a normal bet, and the player to the left of that one posts the big blind, which has an amount that is approximately the same as an ordinary bet.

When there are three blinds, the first one is usually placed by the dealer, or the person who currently holds the dealer button. This means that the first blind in a three-blind forced bet is "on the button."

One kind of blind bet is called a straddle. This kind of bet is actually not a forced bet, since it is voluntarily made. A straddle bet is usually placed after the initial forced blinds have been posted, but before the cards have been dealt yet. This is usually done by a player who wishes to "buy" he privilege of last action, which normally goes to the player in the big blind during the first round.

One kind of straddle is called a live straddle blind bet. This one is made by a player to the left of the player in the big blind. The player to the left of the big blind is sometimes referred to as being "under the gun." Usually, a live straddle is a raise over the big bet; which means that it normally has to be at least twice that of the big bet, effectively making it the "bigger blind." Afterwards, during the betting round, actions usually proceed to the left after the live straddle, and if the bet or action reaches the player who had placed the straddle without a raise, then the straddle can opt to raise. Even before the deal though, if the player to the left of someone who has placed a live straddle wishes to straddle as well, they may re-straddle and place a blind bet that raises the amount of the original straddle.