Razz: Explanation & Tips For Players New To Razz (Feel Free To Add To It)

Okay so I see alot of posts from new players either wanting to learn the game of Razz, or get some helpful pointers to improve there game. and as a winning poker player whose favorite game is lowball (Razz), I've come up with my 3 guidelines to winning. A simple explanation for Razz is that the player with the lowest sequence of 5 cards wins the hand, A2345 being the best possible hand a player can have. Here are some things I've learned about the game in my 9 yrs of playing.

1.) With the first 3 cards dealt to you, if your holding 2 cards under 8, then complete, remember you get dealt 7 cards, so say your first 3 cards dealt are A3K, dont let the King scare you out of the hand, complete and push out any weak hands trying to limp in.

2.) Read your opponents face up cards, if you see that 3 players all hold the same card then you know the chances of you pairing that card are low, also pay attention to the player showing low/high cards, if a player is showing a pair, or 2 face cards, play him strong and bet him.

3.) Dont chase once youve paired up after the bring in/complete remember its the lowest sequence of 5, so even pairs of 2's, or A's put you at a big disadvantage, If your dealt a small pair at the start of the hand, it's okay to bring in and limp into the hand if possible, but being dealt a pair at the start of a hand almost always kills your chances of taking the pot.

Well those would be my 3 most important rules to play by while playing razz, Im sure they'll be 100's of people who disagree, so feel free to tell me I am an idiot and tell me what Ive been doing wrong and also feel free to add any other pointers and tips.

-Mike

The pairs count for nothing so you have to look at the unpaired cards:

A3457 vs 23678

The seven low beats the eight low and you don't need to look at any of the other cards in the hand. Had their high card been the same you would have moved to the next highest card, then the next, then the next. I had some sick seven high hands last night where I lost on the 3rd or 4th card down. Three times in 30 minutes for about $60 at $1/$2. Razz hates me.

Up until the point where I posted that the only experience I had at Full-Tilt was play money. I had only been at Full-Tilt for maybe 3 or 4 days and wanted to check out the whole layout before I deposited anything, hell ive been playing real for over 10 years now and I still ask for advice from other players.

Here's a piece of advice for the newbies. During the last round of betting, take a good look at the 4 cards showing in your opponents hand.

I have seen way too many people raise me heads up on 7th street when they are showing something like AA8J. I know that the best low hand that they could possibly have is an 8 high. They raise because they are trying to bluff me out, when in fact I know that I have them totally dominated because I have a 7 or below low hand.

Many players, who I assume are new to the game, don't realize that the best low hand that you could possibly have is highest card of the 2 lowest cards showing (disregarding pairs of course.)

I really really would disregard this piece of advice as if you never heard it DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS !

Why you shouldnt is because at the end if your hand is not 8 low maybe even 9 low or better it will not be competitive. If you have A3K you get 4 more cards you need 3 cards out of the 4 that are 2,4,5,6,7,8, and only 1 10,J,Q,K,A,3 can hit in your hand if you catch two you are screwed royally so the odds are strongly against you pulling out the win with A 3 K !

However in a heads up situtation you may want to consider a call with such a hand to later outplay your opponent or hope they hit a brick.

I would disregerd about half of the advice in this thread.

The guy who started this thread hasn't got a clue. I would NEVER play a 2 card hand (anything worse than 876 is a 2 card hand IMO) unless it was to steal the antes in late position.

I also RARELY limp in. If I'm gonna play the hand at all, I raise. Let's say you hold 862 in early position. You're not crazy about the hand, so you limp in. Now, 4 players limp in behind you. You are now officially screwed and would have been better off folding then wasting the 50 cents or whatever it cost you to limp in. If you raise and get 1 or 2 customers your odds of having the best hand in the end (or best board which is often good enough) go way up.

As for reading the board, just remember that on 5th street all of your opponents board cards are part of their hand, on 6th it's 3 cards and on 7th it's 2. If you hold 7 4 2 A 8 J 3 and your opponent holds x x 7 6 8 Q x you are what is known as boardlocked. You hold a 7 4 3 2 A and your opponents best possible hand is 7 6 3 2 A. Cap the betting if possible cuz you have the nuts.

Yea real good point to bring up, always pay attention to what cards are folded, and as far as playing pairs..well if im dealt a low pair to begin the hand and i have a decent draw with the pair, say something like AA4, I'll pay the small bet to see what comes next, for the simple fact that if I hit another low card and my hand becomes AA43, it becomes easier to represent the best hand, and push players out on a bet. But I'll almost always fold my hand if I've paired up after the bring in/completion.

well i have a newb question about the hands of razz....

say there are two ppl still in the hand come the 6-7 cards.... and for whatever the reason { bad players of bluffing gone bad or w/e } and both players show 2 low pairs.... say player 1 has AA 44 3 5 7 and player 2 has 22 33 6 7 8....... who wins?

or could some1 please explain this better with a hand description to make the point

Oops, sorry K3A or AK3 should have been how I explained that particular hand, you never want to complete showing a face card, i'll never complete showing anything higher then a 6, but if I have (K-3)A, or two good drawing cards with a face down K, Q, or J, I'll sometimes try a raise to draw out any weak hands. Definitley not the tightest play but it's seemed to always worked for me, at least for scaring out week hands. I like my chances playing 3 handed or heads up, then I do with 4 or 5 players in the hand.