Razz Sit and Go (SNG) Strategy

By: The Monster Stack (Guest Blogger)

Hello,

I will begin with the usual prefix that I am not a Sit and Go (SNG) expert but when it comes to Razz, I think I have an edge in any tournament in which I play. If I don't cash in multi-table Razz tournaments I usually go deep. I have several wins in Razz MTTs and even more final tables and cashes. Additionally, Razz is my favorite game to play and more than likely my best game. That said, I have played in enough Razz SNGs with enough cashes and wins to be somewhat of an authority in this rarely played game and about which there is little written.

I thought of writing a general Razz strategy article but I figured it would lend some context to various situations that arise during Razz play (OK, I don't really address specific situations in this article but the thought was nice). I also have the hope that more people will play in the Razz SNGs offered at so many online poker sites (as I write this article I have been registered in a Razz tourney for the past hour and so far, only one other person has registered). One of the reasons for you to consider learning this form of poker is that most others are not very good at it. What I mean is that since so many online players are playing No Limit Hold 'Em, if you were to master Razz you would have an edge over most players at a Razz table. At the lower limits there are many players who do not even understand the basics of Razz but play anyway. It's a great way to build your Hold 'Em bankroll.

The first thing to understand is that Razz, like all Stud games, is played eight-handed. This is because if, theoretically, every player at the table were to see all seven cards there would not be a sufficient number of cards in the deck to deal every player their full hand (8 players times 7 cards equal 56). In that extremely rare case (I have see it once at the micro-limits when the hand was checked around) the seventh card is dealt as a community card. To limit the possibility of this occurring the game is played eight-handed. So when you enter a Razz SNG you have a one in eight chance (37.5%) of cashing, which is slightly better than your odds at a Hold 'Em or Omaha table.

If there was only one piece of advice that I could give in Razz, whether it is for a cash game, MTT or SNG, it would be patience. More than any other game, I believe that this is the one skill that needs to be perfected. Don't make excuses to play hands. I have looked at my statistics from SNGs, MTTs and cash games in which I did well and I have played about 20% of my hands. If I am being aggressive or happen to catch a run of cards then that number could climb as high as 25% (wow!). Patience will win you money in this game.

So why is patience so important (there are a plethora of other important points but this is number one in my book)? Consider how Razz is played. Each player is dealt seven cards in total. The first three are dealt two down and one up (3rd street). There is a betting round. Then three more cards are dealt face up to each player one at a time with a betting round after each card is dealt (4th, 5th and 6th streets respectively). Then a seventh and final card is dealt face down with a final betting round (7th street). Third street and 4th street are played at the lower betting round and 5th-7th are played at the higher betting round. Unlike in Stud, a double bet is not allowed on 4th street if there is a pair showing. So in a $5-$10 game the first two rounds are $5 each which gets capped at four bets (actually one bet and three raises) and the last three rounds are played at the $10 level. Razz is usually played at as a Limit game although me and my insanely aggressive friends have been known to play Stud style games as Pot Limit (you won't find that online).

OK. Now that I got that out of the way, why is patience so important? Let me continue. The way to win at Razz is to hold the five lowest cards (pairs are bad) with ace playing as low. So 5-4-3-2-A is the best hand with 6-4-3-2-A being second best and so on. Paint cards are bad as are pairs. K-5-3-2-A loses to Q-J-T-9-8, for example (the former being a king-low and the latter being a queen low). The reason patience is so important in this game is that good low hands are not made that often. Chasing only gets you in trouble and costs you precious bets. So before I play a hand I need to start off pretty well on 3rd street. For this reason I often don't play that many hands since my starting requirements are very strict. I won't chase a hand no matter what. Again, each bet, particularly in a tournament structure where escalating blinds eat up your stack, is a precious commodity.

When I do have a hand I play it aggressively on 3rd street and if I brick 4th Street (catch a paint card or an open pair) I will usually slow down. Part of being patient means giving up losing hands as well as not chasing. Depending upon what my opponent(s) have hit on 4th street, I will proceed accordingly. If I begin with (3-5)-A and hit a J on 4th Street and my opponent hit a K on 4th Street, I will lead out if he is showing something like (x-x)-7-K. I am ahead with a better draw so I don't want to miss any bets here. But if I hit paint in 4th street and he hits a low card I might slow down (if he hits an ace and I am familiar with his play I might continue thinking he paired his ace, but that is more advanced Razz).

The idea is to get into the money (ITM) in these Razz SNGs. Once that happens you are assured a shot at the top prize no matter your stack size. The reason is, as many Razz players are aware, that the Limit tournament structure us horrible online. By the time you reach the money, even the chip leader is one hand from being gone or the severe short-stack. So now it is largely a matter of catching the right cards at the right time. By being patient you will have given yourself this chance. Additionally, you will notice that by being patient you will often have a decent chip stack. It doesn't take too many hands to build a stack. One or two hands at the middle limits and you will have a nice stack. You should only play monsters early on since winning pots at this stage will not matter much. I like to win a few small pots early on to stay afloat, win a couple of medium to large pots in the middle rounds and then take it down at the higher level.

I cannot stress how important patience is in Razz SNGs and Razz in general. It is not a game of aggression in the same sense that No Limit Hold 'Em is (although there are times when you must be aggressive in Razz but I will save that for a future article). So remember, play patiently, don't find excuses to play hands (such as, I am the bring-in anyway with a jack up and a 7-3 in the hole at it's only 2/3 of a bet to me), be aggressive when you do pick up a big hand on 3rd street, continue if you hit big on 4th Street and for heaven's sake, don't chase hands. When you do make a hand on 5th street, bet it, raise, re-raise it if it is a monster. Get your money in while ahead. If you have a big hand make sure you don't leave money on the table. Every bet counts.

Be on the lookout for Razz strategy articles. I hope to write some that will be chock full of tips and strategy to help you take your Razz game to the next level or at least above the level of everyone else at your table. This article is far from a complete strategy for Razz SNGs and Razz in general. I wanted to introduce the subject so that future Razz articles will make more sense. So, use this as your starting guide and lookout for further articles on the subject.

See you on the felt,
The Monster Stack

Why I Love Razz. No. Really!

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