Razz poker also known as ‘seven card stud low‘, this is a 7 stud game. Therefore you can see 4 cards from your opponent’s hands, and they can see 4 cards of yours. The player that can take advantage of this will win on the long run. All poker games require discipline, but Razz Poker requires even more discipline than any other game. Let me explain to you why: When you play Texas Holdem, you can start with the worst hand 2♠ 7♥ and if the flop comes 2♥ 2♦ 2♣ you have four of the kind which is a great hand. Well, that’s not impossible, but improbable. More often you see players that play with mediocre hands, beat better starting hands. In Razz Poker if you start with the worst starting hand: king, king, king, you cannot make a good hand, therefore the hand you select to play, or to fold, in the 3rd street becomes a big part of your strategy, and discipline becomes your best friend.
What You Should Play?
If you have three cards below eight you have playable hand, of course if you play heads-up or short-handed and your opponents are very tight you can play a lot more 3 cards combinations, but for now let’s concentrate on an eight players table. But still not all the 3 cards below 8 are the same you will have to choose different strategies for different combinations.
Let’s see some examples:
Example #1
You have – 8 7 6, you look on the other players exposed card (door card) and you see 2,3,4,5,K,J If you play strong here, players are likely to call you and beat you on showdown. You can play cheap to see the 4th street, if things get ugly, run away.
Example #2
You have – A, 4, 5, a very good hand, your opponents door-cards are: 2, 3, 3 Q, 6, 7, K and on 4th street the get more low cards : 3, 2, j, 7,8,8, Q They have a lot of your outs. It will be hard for you to catch 3, 2, 7 and so on. Be aware of the other player’s face-up cards. You might want to slow down if that the case.
Example #3
You have – A 4 5 again, a very good hand, you opponents door-cards are : Q, A, A, 4, 4,5, 8, that good ? Yes, that great, the more cards that you see and you don’t need, just increase you chances to make a great low hand, but should you bet or just call and slow the action?? I say you need to bet, with so much low cards out there (A’s 44’s 5) it is likely that other player will call you, so you can start build the pot now, if all the cards you see are high in short handed, you might slow the game, let’s them think you have nothing and bet on later street .
How to Count Outs?
Outs are the cards that will help you make your hand better.
It’s hard to remember all the face-up cards that already been folded in the hand, so what you need to do? focus from the beginning on the cards you need, let’s go back to the A 4 5 hand, you need 2,3,6,7,8. Look for them , it will help you to make better decisions later in the hand .
