A Quick Guide to Razz

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

Due to popular request, I’ve decided to write a guide for Razz to go along with some of the other HORSE game articles I’ve written. Razz is probably the “simplest” of the HORSE games, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. I will be making a lot of point that apply to lowball games in general, so some of the concepts could also easily be applied to games like Triple Draw or Badugi as well.

The good news is that most of the decisions in Razz are quite clear-cut: it is obvious when you should bet, raise, call, or fold. The bad news is that you can start with a great drawing hand and brick out in frustration, and there are some marginal situations you can probably only analyze by spending a lot of time with hand calculators.

Concept #1: The Cardinal Rule of Lowball Games: Drawing Smooth
All lowball games are drawing games. With the rare exception of the times you get a pat hand in draw lowball, you are almost always drawing TO a good hand rather than betting a made hand. This means that the better draws will be the better hands, and the better draws are always smooth draws. This means that you hold most of the key low cards, so can make a good low hand, like 7-4-3-2-A, instead of 7-6-5-4-2. Both hands are 7-low and are reasonably strong, but the first is much, much better. The smoother your draw, the more aggressively you can play, because in addition to making good hands, like 7’s and 8’s, you can often redraw to really great hands, like 6’s and the wheel.

I cannot stress how important it is to draw smooth. In all lowball games, holding the key cards is the surest way to being a winning player. For one thing, all your draws will be marginally better. For another, it is one less good card for your opponents.

In 2-7 games, the key card is the deuce (so much so that most hands without a deuce are unplayable). In A-5 games like Razz, the key card is the Ace. Having an Ace is so important that all the best hands include it, and it is the best card for smoothing out a draw.

The biggest thing to grasp here is why 7-2-A is a much better starting hand than 7-6-5. To quote David Sklansky, do you see why?

Concept #2: Your Starting Hand
If you’ve read my Stud high guide, you’ll know that in Stud games, starting hand value is relative to what the up cards are. The same applies for Razz. You might not play three cards to a 7 from an earlier position, but you’d be crazy not to play three cards to a Jack with only a King left to act!

If you’re used to playing Stud-8, a lot of similar concepts apply. You’re mostly going to be wanting to draw to an 8-low or better, but unlike in Stud-8, it’s better to have low cards than it is to have potential for a high hand. Any hand you choose to open with should be opened for a raise, no exceptions. If it’s not worth raising, it’s not worth playing. And, since you can’t be as far behind against a reraiser as you could be in Stud high, there is no reason to fear being isolated if your opening range is good.

The biggest thing to consider is when you yourself should consider reraising against an opening completion. Say a 7 completes, and you have three cards to a 6. You should raise, right? It’s not as automatic as you might think. For instance, if you hold 6-5-3, you might want to wait and see what happens on fourth street. The main reason you would want to reraise in Razz is to isolate someone who completes; even A-2-3 isn’t as big a favorite as you might imagine, but you would still want to reraise with a hand this strong. A general rule of thumb is that you want to reraise if you are drawing to a better low than the opening player and you have a smooth draw (preferably containing an Ace).

Concept #3: Waiting to Put in a Raise
David Sklansky raises a good point in his text on Razz, and actually applies this concept to other games as well. Basically, the idea is that you don’t want to give a bad opponent a chance to play correctly on accident. The principle is this: if you have a better hand than a bad opponent (one who calls too loosely), you may not want to reraise his opening bet, opting to wait to see what develops on fourth street. This is because if you reraise on third street, even if your opponent catches bad on fourth street, he would still be justified in calling one more bet because of the pot size. If you had just called on third street, and he caught bad on fourth, he would not be justified in calling one more bet. By the Fundamental Theorem of Poker, this would be a net gain for you.

Concept #4: Knowing When to Push the Bet
Here, study of odds calculators can help a lot, because in marginal situations, knowing when to raise instead of call depends entirely on your equity. For instance, on fifth street, say you have 9-7-6-5-2 for a 9-low, and your opponent has 4-3-3-2-A. You’re the favorite with a made five card hand, right? Think again. Your opponent’s super-strong draw is the clear equity favorite (albeit not by a lot). This type of situation illustrates how important it is to have a smooth draw.

To look at more situations, I recommend you look at equity calculator like those found at twodimes.net.

Concept #5: Using the Board to Your Advantage
Say you have the same hand your opponent had in the example above, but your pair is not obvious to the other player, and your up cards are in fact A-2-3. Even without a made hand, you should continue to bet aggressively and represent a made hand. This way, your opponent may fold a hand that he would continue to call with if he knew you had paired.

Even more than in Stud high, the player with the best board should really be driving the action. Giving your opponent a free card when you have a great draw yourself is a big mistake, because you give up fold equity, and potentially even a +EV situation!

Concept #6: Playing on the Later Streets
Playing on fourth street and beyond is not as difficult as in other Stud games, because there is really only one draw, which is to the best low hand. There is no need to judge whether a pair is good, whether your opponent is drawing to flush, or if your two pair is worth another bet; everyone is trying to make the same hand: the wheel (which is really the hand you should be drawing to). Most of the time, it will be very clear who is ahead and who is behind. It is only when you make a pair or you suspect your opponent may have a pair that you will sometimes have to evaluate the situation based on your knowledge of the player.

As I said, when you hold the best hand, it is imperative you bet and not give opponents free cards when you are ahead or your board is favorable. Unlike in other games, it is hard to be a big favorite against another competent opponent.

Concept #7: Recognizing a Board Lock
You may recognize this concept from the Stud-8 Guide if you’ve read it. The difference here is that only the low board lock matters. Here is an example:

You: (3-2) 4-6-7
Opponent: (x-x) 8-A-2

Here, no matter what your opponent holds, you are currently ahead. You should be pushing your equity for all its worth.

If you’re fortunate enough to make a board lock on a late street, take note of your opponent, because chances are, he isn’t a great player (good lowball players don’t let themselves get board locked or freerolled). In the above example, your opponent is probably drawing to a smooth 7 or better, so it isn’t that bad. But say you have the following situation instead:

You: (3-4) A-2-6-T
Opponent: (x-x) 7-8-3-4

Here, your opponent is drawing completely dead unless he has A-2, A-5, or 5-2 in the hole. Even so, he would have to make a wheel on the end to beat you. Any opponent who gets into this kind of trouble is likely to go off for a bunch of money.

In many HORSE games, there will frequently be at least one bad player at each game (and it might be a different player in the other games). The biggest advantage you can have is to be reasonably good at all the games, even if you are significantly better at one game above the others. Razz doesn’t offer a lot of really great situations, but recognizing the good situations could make you a few bets.

[crack]

I think I would like to add something with regards to starting hands.

As DC said, generally you want to be playing to 3 card 8's and lower. This doesn't mean that you should call any raise with one of these hands or perhaps even limp!

Take this example. You hold A78 and a 6 raises in front of you and it's your turn to act. Just like I said with regards to stud. Have a look at what's behind you. If there are some babies left to act then you should be chucking a hand like this into the muck. The same goes for a hand like A58. There is too much chance that it may get raised behind you, especially if your 8 is the up card. 3 card 8's are not hands you put 2 bets in with.

It all depends on the types of games you are playing. I may muck 765 in an aggressive game with good players in EP if there are a lot of babies behind me, but then I may raise it in the same circumstances against passive players in a small stakes game.

Just like in stud, you must keep track of the dead cards. For example, You have a made 9 with an 8 draw on 6th street and have been calling bets against someone showing 65T. Now on 6 that opponent catches a 3 and you are wondering if he has paired or not. Think about how important it is in this spot to know you saw two 3's mucked on 3rd street. Instead of calling on 6th and probably 7th in case he paired and your 9 is good, you can very easily muck this hand knowing you just saved 2 bets.

A subject that DC didn't touch upon was stealing the antes and defending the bring in.

I think this will be short and sweet. Basically, if it's folded to you and you have say a 5 up, look at what's behind you. If for example there is a 9, T and then the bring in (Queen), then you should raise regardless of what you have. Chances are they won't have enough to call and you are showing a baby.

Also, you can't always give up the antes if you are not the last low card to act. For example, if you have a hand like 954 and there is a 6 still left to act as well as the bring in, raise it. Chances are you have the best hand. If the 6 calls/raises then just see what you both catch on 4th. For this play to be effective though you must make sure the 9 is down and not up. If it's the up card then you will find yourself getting re raised a lot more by the 6. If the 9 is up then I will probably just limp.

This next bit probably isn't great advice for the low stakes but I will put it out there. Same scenario as above except you have A55. Yes, you only have a two card hand and pairs aren't good in this game. That said, you still have 3 wheel cards and with one person left to act behind, it may be a good shot at taking down the pot.


Defending the bring in. This topic is just as straight forward. When you bring it in with paint, you should almost always fold your hand to a raise. There are a few exceptions though. It depends where the raise has come from. If the raise basically comes from anywhere except the player to your immediate right you muck it. If it has come from that player, then depending on what his up card is and what cards have passed, you may be able to call it.

My general benchmark is this. The two cards have to at least be two ranks lower than their up card. I don't play 8's. If they have a wheel card up then I need a 6 and a 4 or better.

Here are some examples:

My hand: 76K
Their up card: 4

I fold

My hand: 75K
Their up card: 9

I call

My hand: 86K
Their up card: T

I fold

My hand: 43K
Their up card: 4

I call

I think you get the idea. It really does all depend though on the structure of the game and what cards have been passed. If the structure is a high ante structure then there is more reason to defend, but if it's low then you may be best always mucking the king against a baby and only calling when the player to your right has an 8, 9 or T showing. If you have 43K, you have seen A's and 2's folded and the player in the steal position raises with an A up, you are probably best just folding the hand.

Hope this helps.

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

Thanks crack, for saying the things I was getting too tired to say.

[jimmer]

Nice work guys

[clarky]

Well it works when some poker players you play with folds before your turn and the only player to stay is limping in then this is the perfect time to raise and steal the pot.

[miaowmiaowchowface]

these are good D-cutter, i gotta readd em sometime. ty

[HalfSugar]

All the guides DC wrote are worth reading. Nothing replaces putting in the man hours at these games but this is a great jumping off point for getting started in them.