If you've ever played poker in a casino or in home games, you will probably have heard the word ‘straddle’ at the table. A straddle is a voluntary extra bet, usually double the size of the big blind, put into the pot by the player to the left of the big blind before they see their cards. So for example, in a $2/$4 game, a player would straddle to $8. Straddles are ‘live’, meaning that the person who posts a straddle has the option to act last before the flop.

The rules for straddling vary from place-to-place. In some card rooms, a straddle will be a pot-sized raise (to $14 in a $2/$4 game).