On my personal play: I straddle two times. If the table agrees to a mandatory straddle, I go along. This almost never happens, with the exception of the rock being in play. I also believe in a catch & release policy regarding straddles - i.e. if I win a pot where someone straddled, then I post a straddle when it is my turn.
As for my games . . . I limit straddles to a single 2bb straddle from UTG in the lower stakes games but allow any sort of crazy bets in the $1/$2 game. I do this based on the interested of the game. The players coming to the low stakes games come there for the financial safety of a small blind / small buy-in game. I have one player on a life ban from the $0.25/$0.50 because he just wouldn't quit betting $6.25 blind trying to juice the game. (While I was personally happy to take his money, the "old lady" regulars complained loudly enough to get a change made.)
And in reference to buy-in vs blinds . . . . the buy-in limits are pivotal in controlling how a game runs. Big buy-ins relative to the blinds greatly favor the better players vs the weaker players. Weak players who buy in big quickly become former players. Weak players who don't buy-in big might control their losses but their chance to score a big win are greatly diminished unless they adopt a hit-n-run plan for what to do when they get lucky.
In general big buy-ins are bad for a regular game if the host cares about keeping the lesser skilled players happy. Short stacked play favors the weaker players. I have lost one or two players from my $0.25/$0.50 - $20 max buy in game due to losses in 15+ years of hosting that game. I have lost ~50 players from my $1/$2 - match the big stack buy-in game due to loss rates. I still run or play in the $20 game 5-6 times a month, I rarely get in more than 10 $1/$2 games a year now.
Deep games are more intellectually challenging. I like them myself. But they aren't good for my games from the point of view of the host. I host something like 60 games a year and play in another 25 within a small player pool. The losing players have pain points that will end their participation if the winners get greedy. My job as the host is to keep the games healthy - if the players want a short stacked game, that is what they get.
Great analysis.
As much as I love playing deep-stacked games, I also play in a weekly $0.25/$0.50 NLHE-only game with what I consider very short stacks, $20 max buy-in. The upside is that there are frequent rebuys, so the game often ends up playing fairly deep by the end of the night. It only runs about 5–6 hours, and I think that's the sweet spot. It gives everyone enough time to scratch their poker itch, and there are plenty of opportunities to bank a nice win, but generally no one gets hurt too badly. Very recreational type of game.
In contrast, it used to be $0.50/$1 NLHE with a $20/$40/$60 buy-in that progressed with stack sizes. On a slow night, it barely played bigger than $0.25/$0.50, but if the action got pushed a little early on (by, say, me), stacks could grow quickly, and people were soon stacking multiple $40 rebuys in the first hour or two. Players would bust faster, and going into the 4th and 5th hours, we'd be pretty deep-stacked and short-handed. We'd sometimes even play into the wee hours of the morning (6 or 7 hours game time), usually because I had a different work schedule and could stick around long enough to keep the game alive. Often, less experienced players who'd done well earlier in the night would give a lot of their wins back, if not bust out.
The $0.50/$1 format was really hurting the game after a while. The host decided to knock it down to the $0.25/$0.50 format to keep a few key players in the game because it was playing out of their comfort levels, and their leaving would threaten the game. (It's also been going 10+ years, so it's important to keep the core players happy, even if the game might survive without them.) In the end, I think it was a smart move, and I'm glad for it even if I don't win as much as I used to. The game is more fun and less contentious.
Straddles and re-straddles are allowed in both formats, BTW. I avail myself more than anyone else, but I've gotten a few other players to do it as well. Some people whine once in a while, but it's mostly received good-naturedly.
