You've just stepped into a poker room for the first time in your life and the jitters have already kicked in. As the chips are handed to you in a tray, you nervously stack them up while taking glances at how others at the table have stacked their own chips. Then, the dealer deals you your first hand and the adrenaline has officially kicked in. Your mind is racing with a million thoughts. After the button has orbited several times, the player to your right suddenly posts some chips even before he picks up his cards. The dealer then says, "Straddle," and motions to you, expecting you to do something. Caught off guard, you quickly come to your senses and fold your hand. The straddle in poker we are familiar with involves a player putting in twice the big blind before the cards are dealt. Usually, the player to the left of the big blind straddles, which is essentially a voluntary blind and a raise in the dark. However, come September 4th, we will be bringing our own twist to the straddle bet.
GGNetwork is excited to be introducing the world’s first straddle variation in which any player can post a straddle bet regardless of position. Forgoing the turn-based position theme, our straddle variation will allow any player to post a straddle bet before the hole cards are dealt. It can basically be thought of as an auction with the highest bidder being the last to act pre-flop! Once the first person straddles, then a timer will be initiated waiting for any person to straddle next. To make it more exciting, after the first straddle bet is posted, all players will be given the option to either straddle or go all-in! We call this the "No-Look All-In" due to the fact that the player has another choice to move all-in even before the cards are dealt! We believe these added twists to Straddle will bring more excitement and thrills to the poker landscape.