Poker Players Have a Lot to Learn From Razz

(Photo: Pokerfed.org)

Razz is one of the most frustratingly swingiest games out there. By its very nature every hand is a drawing hand, and there are a lot of situations that play out pretty much automatically. But that doesn’t mean that razz is devoid of interest. And a few swings never hurt anyone – physically, at least. Razz’s oddities definitely shouldn’t turn you off the game; the average hold'em player might find that those oddities allow you to sharpen up a few specifics in your game, and a more open mind might just enjoy razz for it’s own sake.

Ever since reading about a travelling hi-stakes PL razz game in Antony Holden’s Big Deal, I’ve tried to get my home games playing it, to no avail so far. But now there is help out there, Adam Owen and Ian Shaw, British players who are part of a group of pros who focus on mixed-games, sat down with PokerNews to talk about why they love razz. Validation at last.

Unlike the game in Big Deal, razz nowadays is almost always played with fixed limit betting when it is played at all. It is a seven card stud variant where the lowest hand wins. Aces play low, and straights and flushes do not count against your hand. Therefore the wheel (the A-2-3-4-5 straight) is the best possible hand regardless of suits.

If you’re not familiar with the details of play in seven card stud there are plenty of guides to the rules on the internet. The short version is that everyone is dealt a seven card hand in a series of rounds. The first round is two cards face down and one up. The rest of the cards are dealt one per round, face up until the river card, which is face down. It makes for five rounds of betting with the fixed bet doubling for the last three rounds.

A Beginner’s Game

Owen’s strongest argument for playing razz is its simplicity. For new players you can get them playing as quickly as possible.

There’s some mileage in that idea: lowball games do away with having to memorize the hand rankings at the same time as picking up the sequence of play.

Another reason to learn razz, is that razz is a game in which players often find themselves playing, but without really understanding. This can make for a tasty edge for any player who goes in prepared with a little razz knowledge. Owen says:

But like many lowball games it also has a kind of stripped down purity to it, that is less tainted by the vagaries of equity. Owen sees it as a good teaching aid for "a lot of good principles for poker – it teaches you to bluff, to steal, and to resteal."

Remember the caveat though, the edge there is ‘slight’, so be prepared for those swings. If you feel they’ve got a case, then let’s look at how to go about generating that slight edge. Shaw and Owen had some advice on that as well.

Starting Hand Selection

As with holdem, starting hands are the first place to plug your leaks. "A lot of the game is based on third street, as the run-outs tend to be a bit automatic after that," Owen says going on to suggest that beginners should stick to playing three cards under eight to start with.

The thing to remember is that every starting hand needs to hit right. A fact a lot of players forget, “they play a hand like A-2-3 like it's aces in hold'em while you're basically in a flip against 7-6-5.” Shaw chimes in, pointing out that one upshot of this mistake is that people “telegraph the strength of their hand by three-betting on third street a lot, which makes it easier for you to play the hand later on."

Owen also cautions against playing ‘rough’ hands starting out – a rough hand being the highest combination of cards for that hand, for example a rough-eight is the 8-7-6-5-4 low – "rough eights and nines can get troublesome," is how he puts it.

Later Streets

One of the reasons starting hands are so important is that the places where you can gain an advantage on later streets are more limited. Normally, “in stud games fifth street is a very important street because you go from the small bet to the big bet,” Owen explains.

Although Shaw does step in to counter his colleague saying:

Adjusting to the structure of the game is key. Owen even suggests you should even factor in the rake structure to some of your play:

But naturally, the biggest adjustments, as with most poker games, are in tournament play. Unlike holdem where the increasing blinds ramp up aggression, in razz the opposite is true according to Shaw.

Owen adds:

Which is not to say passivity should be universal. Benefits of the large ante’s also need to be weight up against the fact that:

With these tips under your belt, do I have any takers for that razz game now? Let us know in the comments.