Blind Raise

Blinds are forced bets placed into the pot by normally two players before the cards are dealt. The blinds simulate bets made during play and act as a catalyst to start the action after the deal. Holdem calls for two blinds, a small blind (half the bet) and a big blind (full bet). The player left of the dealer puts up the small blind and the next player the big blind. A Blind Raise is a raise before the cards are dealt by a player that acts as a raise when it gets to that players turn. Some special blind raises can often be seen in poker games like the straddle and Mississippi straddle.

Straddle

A straddle bet is an voluntary blind bet made by a player before receiving his cards. Straddles are used only in cash games played with fixed blind structures. Normally, players voluntarily put up the straddle when it is a live straddle. A live straddle blind bet is voluntarily put up by the player to the left of the big blind and is a raise over the big blind. For example, in a $10-$20 game a small blind would be $5, the big blind would be $10, and the live straddle would be $20. The live part of the live straddle is when nobody has raised when it comes back to the person who straddled. The live straddle has an opportunity to now raise.

Mississippi Straddle

Mississippi straddle is a special type of live straddle. Mississippi straddles propular in house games and casinos in the southern United States. The Mississippi straddle buys the right to have the last action before the flop. A Mississippi straddle can normally be made from any position at the table, however some house rules only allow the button or cutoff seat to place a Mississippi straddle. The button always has the first option to straddle, if he declines the next option goes to the cutoff seat and continues in that reverse direction until someone wants to straddle or nobody elect to straddle. Similar to a live straddle, a Mississippi straddle is double the big blind similar to a raise. The Mississippi Straddle allows the action to start with the player to the left of the straddle.

For example, in a $10-$20 blind game, if the button puts out a live $40 Mississippi Straddle, the first player to act would be the small blind, followed by the big blind, and so on. When the action gets back to the straddle with no raise, the straddle has the option of raising.