By: The Monster Stack (Guest Blogger)
Hello,
I would like to talk a little about my favorite poker game, Razz. Yes, you read that correctly. Razz! This is the game that when being played, the entire table wonders why it is they are even playing. Almost everyone seems like they would rather be somewhere else. Finding Razz in a casino is not possible in any poker room on the East Coast of which I am aware and I am pretty sure that it is difficult, if not impossible to find it spread in any casino elsewhere outside of a mixed game. Even playing online poker I have had to wait at a table for some time until it filled up. Razz SNGs are impossible to get going online - I have sat registered for five different Razz SNGs at multiple stakes for hours without so much as one other registrant. I once put my laptop in standby mode overnight only to realize that I had forgotten to unregister from a Razz SNG. Lucky for me nobody registered. Razz MTTs run a few times throughout the day on PokerStars and other sites but rarely draw that many players and the stakes are usually less than $10 or $20. The most entrants I have seen on PokerStars in an MTT is about 150 and that was because it had a guaranteed prize pool (of only $1000), which people seem to love. The WCOOP and FTOPS attract a decent number of entrants into their Razz tournaments, but again, they have large guaranteed prize pools. I am convinced that people would enter a coin flipping competition if they guaranteed a million dollar prize pool.
So by now you might be asking yourself why on earth I think Razz is the best form of poker out there. If all of the above is true then why would I like it? Well, for a number of reasons. First of all, I'll run through the rules really quickly for those who are unfamiliar with the game. Razz is like 7 Card Stud but it is played low, meaning the worst hand wins. Unlike 7 Card Stud Eight or Better there is no qualifier (more on that shortly). Like 7 Card Stud, seven cards are dealt to each player one at a time after the initial deal of three cards. There is a betting round after each card is dealt. So each player is dealt two cards down and one up. Then there is a betting round. Then three more cards are dealt up with a betting round between each and the seventh card is dealt down with one final betting round. The lowest hand wins with the wheel, 5-4-3-2-A (straights and flushes are ignored) being the best. Aces play as low. The second best hand is 6-4-3-2-A followed by 6-5-3-2-A, and so on. The worst hand would be K-K-K-K-Q-(Q-Q). A good starting in Razz would be (2-4)-A or (5-3)-2. Unlike in Stud Eight or Better the five lowest cards do not need to be 8 or less so therefore J-10-8-5-3 beats K-4-3-2-A (which would be a really bad beat), the former being a jack low and the latter being a king low.
So you might still be asking yourself why on earth I would love a game where bad hands are good and good hands are bad. Well, first of all, I tend to enjoy any game that isn't Hold 'Em. I enjoy Stud games very much as I have a better feel for the game. I often read and hear of how people play by feel more than there cards. They play the players and the situation, which of course is the proper way to play. I find that I do this much better in Stud style games. However the most important reason I play Razz is because I feel that I am better than the majority of people who play Razz online, particularly at the middle limits. It's not that I think that I am such a great player. It's more that I feel everyone else is not. Most people who play Razz online come and go. There are a few of us Razz people who are regulars at the tables and I know who they are. For the most part, when someone sits down at a Razz table online I know if they are regulars as there are not many. This means that those who are not are either learning the game, experts who are first beginning to play online or those who are either taking a break from another game or just want to see what this Razz thing is all about.
Of the above mentioned groups, the majority are fall into the first and last categories as most "pros" would not just pop in for a quick game. Most experts would be longtime regulars. While there are many who are trying to learn the game, I find that many just pop in and play a little to check out the game. Therefore I am at a distinct advantage. I can make my money off of those who are really not familiar with the rules. These players tend to make very costly errors, which is something one should never do against someone who plays Razz. They are easy to pick off as they do not have good hand selection and they tend to pay off a better hand pretty regularly. I am very familiar with how the game is played and take pride in being able to pick off these players. I seem to be able to fold losers, lose the minimum in a cooler situation and get the max out of my big hands. I wish I could do that in Hold 'Em. I also have a pretty good ability to read a bluff in Razz which is something I think is easier to pick up in Stud type games.
Here's another interesting benefit to playing Razz. When playing Razz you will occasionally find yourself with a monster starting hand like (2-4)-A and will raise it up. Unlike in Hold 'Em, however, Razz is a drawing game. Someone with a reasonable starting hand will look you up so a completion or a raise on third street may not get them to fold. Now you get dealt fourth street only to find a Q so now your hand looks like this: (2-4)-A-Q. Your opponent's board may be something like (x-x)-6-3. Now what? Let's assume it goes check-check and you get to fifth. You are now dealt a J for a board of (2-4)-A-Q-J. Ugly! It's worse if your opponent has something like: (x-x)-6-3-7. This happens often in Razz where you will start with a monster and brick fourth and fifth streets while your opponent hits gin. You must fold. Unlike in Hold 'Em where pocket aces or pocket kings are often the best hand after a "missed" flop, that luxury does not hold true in Razz. So you get used to "bad beats" or hands like the one above. They happen all too often. So when you move back to Hold 'Em it's easier to take the coolers and the "bad beats" that inevitably occur. In Razz you learn to smile and play the next deal as though it were the first since you sat down.
So next time you are online take a seat at a Razz table and give it a try. You never know. It could be you next favorite game. Here's hoping. Look out for some Razz strategy articles in the future.
See you on the felt,
The Monster Stack
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