I would guess that because every pot has so much dead money in it that it makes this an easier fold. That’s because the percentage of money you would win that’s involuntarily put in the pot is higher than if it were just .50/1.

I probably would have called absent any reads, but I think the fold makes even more sense in a game with that many straddles. People generally don’t play *better* if there are straddles. AQs is still a good hand, though.

If this cash game is a normal situation, I’d recommend using something like Excel or ICMIZER to study 20bb stack situations, because you’ll find that a lot of your opponents won’t know it at all. 

I can remember a straddle situation at 1/2/5 where I limped the sb AQo fully expecting a ton of $5 limps, a straddle squeeze, and then a rip. I expected the straddler to have a really wide range and according to experience and more importantly, Andrew/Nate discussing straddles with Carlos on the Coaching Carlos podcast series. However, the straddler tanked for a while and then folded AK face up. I’m guessing the overfolds come from opponents having set hands that can get all in for $100 or $200 or whatever, but don’t know how to look at it in a broader text, like 20bb vs 50bb or 40bb vs 100bb.

Rad, ICMIZER is a pivot table, if that makes any sense. It’s calculating the EV of shoving a hand or calling a hand based on the parameters you set up. Because it’s usually used for writing out trees of short stack all in situations, and you’re not going to be shoving 100bb over an open or anything, there isn’t much value in thinking about it for cash. However, when the straddle is in effect, you have a short stack. The game is still played the same, and you’re still calculating chip EV. Put in the range you think is limping a straddle, then calling the shoves, etc. ICMIZER will tell you the EV of each hand.