Straddeling Why Not?

What is the reason why straddling is not allowed in cash games?

I am finding that the answer alot of the times to any question is "No". Last night was playing in a game with 6 players, one went to straddle, we all agreed yep straddle great. Next the dealer says nobody is allowed to straddle and puts a stop to it.

What is the point? I understand that if 1 person on table disagrees then it should not be allowed, but if all players are happy with it then why say no? What good does it do to restrict your players?

Its a cash game, we pay a rake for the running of good, secure, friendly and reliable poker game. Not for people to tell us that we cant play it how we want to.

Its not a tournament games were rules are pre-set its a cash game, were limits etc are set by the players. Straddling should also be decided by the players when the table is first opened, not the house.

Straddling is good for the house anyway, because it encourages betting and that brings more rake.

We have been straddling pretty much every day since its opened (except if one or more players objected) did any players complain? I dont believe so, yet straight away 6 players where unhappy about it last night, not exactly a great service, doing something that is only going to make players unhappy?

Dealers explanation "its not allowed i have been told its the rules" great but the rules are also no smoking. But this was abandoned, in a room that is fairly isolated enough as it is. So now the none smokers dont have a choice, were as smokers do get a choice if they smoke or not.

If the house wants to start encouraging dealers to be more restricting, perhaps they should start making sure that people sit down with the minimum on the table. It happens time and time again, a player sits down with less than the table minimum and the dealer says nothing (of course the poker room manager, doesnt notice because he is never monitoring the table or assisting the dealer - what our rake goes towards), then its up to the players who always notice, to either tell the player or instruct the dealer to take action. Which can make the player sitting down feel intimitated by the player who spotted it, not what some players want.

And watching out for players taking chips of the table in the middle or a cash game. IE Sitting down with X then winning a pot and then pocketing profit, hoping to play with whatever is left. Players constantly have to spot this themselves, to be fair its hard enough for the dealer having to run the game never mind looking out for this. Maybe this is what the poker room manager should be doing, supervising the running of the card room and assisting dealers and supervising the game? (Again what a rake is meant to go towards)

I will have to mention a couple of things i noticed last night with 2 dealers.

1st of all Danny who was great as a dealer, he was quick and was aware of what was going on around him. He did stop the straddling but that is his job and its good that he knew what the rules were.

Next was during the New Bounty Tournament. Nadine a new dealer used her time to come and watch what was going on in the Tournament as she had no idea what Bountys were. This was good to see as she showed willing to understand so she was prepared when it was her turn to deal in a Bounty Tournament.

Back to the point on Straddling i think that if it is ok with the table then it should go ahead. However we understand that if 1 person doesnt like the idea then we know it is not allowed.

Again it needs to be noted the exact house rules and we all need to be aware. These can not change when people feel like it as we all get confused.

I tought everything was allowed in Cashgames ;-)

Why not run 2 boards?

1. Fee's - The £5 Fee is here to stay I am afraid, it is needed to make the poker offer (tournaments) commerically viable, as well as put dealers on the table and invest in things like the poker managment system.

We are aware the norm used to be 10% of buy in - but this was just because UK legislation dictated this ( I can assure you it would have been alot higher if law allowed). It has now changed under the UK Gaming Act 2005, which has just been enforced - So if you look around UK card rooms you will find Fees up to 25% on low stake games or minimum £10 Fee (dusk till dawn, the Vic, some Grovensor casino's). Other European operators are quickly following suit! Once you get to higher level buy ins (£100 +) the FEE normal drops to 10%. Online companies dont count, as they can not adopt this strategy due to a number of reasons (mainly high competition).

2. Smoking - This is a difficult one, and we are currently reviewing wether to allow smoking or not. 90% of the worlds card rooms are NON SMOKING - but this is enforced by either EU legislation or local (like Nevada) state bi-laws. Here in Gibraltar the law is "smoker friendly" but as Gibraltar steps up its "no smoking" lobbying, and continues to get pressure form all over, it could be taken out of our hands.

Currently the supervisors have been told to "manage" the situation, but this is clearly not working, so a decision will be made over the coming weeks on no smoking or smoking!. We are (as you know) speaking to as many of our regular & new players as possible about smoking. Please hang fire on this one, we will get it resolved. Either way some of you wont be happy!!!!! -

3. Straddeling??? - Serious ? I think we should open a thread on straddeling for further discussion. But for now, the offical response is

In every poker room, in every location staddeling is a house rule - which means some casinos allow straddles and some don’t. The common rule is you dont change your rules on straddeling ! regardless of what a table wants.

Is straddeling good ? well these days the common answer among experienced players is "dunno - it depends on your game and the ability to get reads from players" HOWEVER the common answer amongst NEW or less experienced players is "NO - NO NOOO "

As we are aiming to encourage new cash players, and develop a "fun" atmosphere, we have sided on the NO STRADDELING route

And our final note, if you allow Straddeling you are effectively "loosening up" the table and encouraging players to get involved in higher stake action then what they may feel comfortable with based on the blinds of the table - AGAIN A BAD THING. After all, we dont want everyone loosing all there hard earned money in half an hour do we?


I hope this answers your questions ?

hello Admin and Casino Managers...

As i have read this post i went to you casino... only to once more experience that the rules set do not apply to the game running. I was sat at a table with 3x straddle. I said that this wasnt allowed in this casino and every1 including the room director had said that it was allowed. JESUS............ MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!!!!!!

I want a quick and straight answer on this and no... the rules can be changed.... because if they have been changed you are olibated to change the forum post of your so called ADMIN!!!!

KidM

I apologise, but straddles have been permitted for a few months now, hope it sisnt ruin your game.

:(