The 'trottski' is the English (British) translation of what is commonly referred to as 'the straddle' in Texas Holdem Poker. A trottski
bet is a minimum of double the big blind, which
may be executed by the
player immediately to the left of the big blind, and can only be enacted before cards are dealt.
The actual name 'trottski' originated in Reading, a large town in the county of Berkshire, England. It is named after Lord Arthur Dingleberry Trott, a well known floral botanist and semi-professional
cheese sculptor from the 1850's. Lord Trott introduced Texas Holdem Poker to Britain following one of his
cheese sculpting exhibitions in Chicago in 1854, and the rest is history.