Razz strategy

I can't seem to find any decent resources anywhere online for razz. I've found a few articles on stud that help somewhat (re: ante ratio etc), but nothing solid on razz.

I'm currently winning at .5/1 by playing a very basic and tight game, but lack some of the basic knowledge needed to really rake in a good profit. I basically play tight starting hands, loosening up when in late position and bluffing in the right spots but don't know simple stuff like odds needed to draw etc.

Any links or pointers would be appreciated.

I found a reference to Razz in a Hold'em book saying it is explained in detail in Sklansky on Poker. I do not have that book.

Here is the blurb from the basics on Razz; you probably have seen it but maybe others have not.

Razz: Starting hands - 3 to a wheel is great, 3 to a 6 is good, 3 to a 7 is decent, 3 to an 8 is ok but usually not vs. a raise. Catch well on fourth and fifth or get out. Catch well on sixth and seventh or stab yourself in the eye because razz sucks. Weaker hands become stronger if you see a lot of your cards on board (i.e. 842 with two 8s two 4s and a 2 dead); stronger hands become weaker when the cards you need are dead (i.e. 742 with two 3s, two 5s, and an A dead.)

Thanks, pig. I'd read that that book was pretty much the best resource out there for razz even though it's years old. I'll see if I can find a copy somewhere.

i google for my razz info.... ill try to post some links later

The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition: also has a Razz section in it. It's not the end all, be all strategy, but it's a decent primer if nothing else.

Sklansky's Theory of Poker also has some razz stuff sprinkled throughout. It has some actual percentages in Chapter five.

Super System has a little bit on Razz - I guess nobody thinks a book dedicated to Razz would make any money

I learned what little I know from just playing the game, aside from the very basic rule about a draw to a better hand being favourite over a made hand on fifth street.

The best advise I can give you is to play tight initially, depending on your table. Before you play any hand, check everyones up card and base it on your hand. If your hand favors and you're the 1st in, pop it for the max bet and go from there. Another tip to consider is playing with hands ranging from a possible 8 or 9 low from the 3 starting cards and mix it up from there. Hope this helps and best wishes at improving your game.

Here are a few books (top 3 @ amazon by search of "razz"). I may pick one or three of these up myself.

Amazon.com: Championship Stud: 7-Card Stud, Stud/8, Razz: Books: Max Stern,Tom McEvoy,Linda Johnson

http://www.amazon.com/Sklansky-Poker...6144256&sr=1-2

Amazon.com: Winning Concepts in Draw & Lowball: Books: Mason Malmuth

Great post, I've recently started to played a few Razz MTT's and find them very fun. I've also been looking around the internet for any articles or tutorials. Anyway, here's how I play Razz:

- In the start of the tourney I never play any hands with cards higher than 7 from the start. If there's alot of people behind you I prefer 6high.

- It seems like there's a lot of players that don't have any clue at all and call with mostly anything in the start. I see people all the time keep betting to the river with T or J high with several players in the pot calling. Attacking their chips also helps me alot.

- In any point of the tournament I never check if I think I have the winning hand, unless the opponent is drawing dead and I'm certain he will bet.

- If I hit the last 2 tables with a decent stack (average or higher) I play very aggressive. In this stage I feel that people fold a whole lot more, and they are even easier to bluff.

- Last thing: observe how players play when they have an open Ace, some people raise no matter what they have, and are easy to push away on 4th street, others only play them if they have good pocket cards aswell.

So far gotten 1x1th, 1x2nd, 1x4th and 1x15th out of 6 tourneys with 80-150 players. These tourneys have been played within the last 10 days or something like that, so I'm retty confident that my strategy is at least good enough. (Yes, I may have been very lucky)

Any thoughts?

Sounds pretty standard to me and looks like you're getting great results, congrats

One thing I think I do a little differently is actually loosen up in the early stages and play most 8s even. Especially in the lower-buyin tourneys, there are soooo many fish that barely understand the game and exploiting them for as many cihps as possible before they go bust is very important. I once had a guy bet and cap 5th with two jacks showing and me holding a very glaringly obvious strong low. Soo juicy

yeah, Must admit I agree with the 8's, unless if they are visible and many other low visible cards behind me.

And about those who barely understand the game.. there's actually someone even better to steal chips from: The "ups-I-eventered-razz-wtf-is-this-player" They bet nomatterwhat. And the "This-game-sucks-players" They are pretty much the same, but the last version mostly always make themselves visible in the chat

So back to my razz strategy.. I'm doing so well now that I'm thinking I could make a Razz movie. Doesn't have to be a "play like this" but more like "how I play it". Would be fun to try

Tonights 24+2 Razz Touney I got on third, winning $298. Quite dissapointet though, as I had around 54k chips at a moment when we were 3 left, 2nd leader had just about the same, and third down to 15-20k.

I played very aggressively with the other bigstack, as he played anything at that moment. Unfortunally I made mostly full house and high lowhands with trips untill i got down to 10k myself.

Anyway.. ChuckTs: What type of software do you use for filming and editing? Any hints and tips maybe?

Cheers

I use camtasia studio.

There are others too (just google 'screen recording software').

Recording and posting videos is always a good thing - it's sort of like posting hands for hand analysis. I'd be happy to see a razz video from you

Cool, thanks for the help mate. Hopefully I'll manage to do it within next week. Heading Offshore the 11th and won't be home before around the 27th of December.

We'll see

Would love to see that Razz video. I'll pm you a link later where you can download Camtasia 3 for free.

Thanks for the link mate. Have been trying to find the software through different torrent sites without any sucsess.

Anyways.. I'm working in the Atlantic Ocean atm, so don't expect anything before next year

If it hasn't been recommended yet, Sklansky on Poker has good material on Razz if I remember right.

On the lighter side, you could watch me play, then do everything different!

I have read several successful stud players, high and low, mention that they seldom if ever open raise. Pot control and the logic being they don't want to give any clues when they have the big hand. This is generally my rule of thumb.

However, we have all seen the relentless pressure some guys exert. It can be effective when the table seems sane, or soft.

Ugh... every time I see a post like this, I want to play razz...

I guess I'll try to stick to Aalgaard's plan, assuming I don't hate the game after an hour like normal.

Razz is one of my favorite games to play. A few standard practices I use are:

- Never complete the bring in bet. If you have strong hole cards, raise after someone else completes.

- Be very aggressive when you have the best of it. Just because you have the best hand on 4th street, doesn't mean you will have the best on 5th. Tied to this, I rarely will give free cards.

- My starting hands depend greatly on what the rest of the table is showing as their door cards. A23, while the theoretical best you can have, becomes a lot less strong when all the 4s and 5s are dead. Likewise, 876 becomes much stronger if everyone else is showing paint cards. In general, I like to start with no more than 8 high, and even then I will dump it if I catch bad on 4th.

- Bluffing in this game is very dependent on your door card vs the other players' door cards. Simply put, you're better off bluffing when you have an Ace or 2 showing vs other players paint cards. Also, pay attention to who you are trying to bluff. Some morons will call down with anything hoping to catch lucky.

- As Aalgaard said, watch how people play their Ace doorcards. To a lesser extent their 2s as well. This can be very helpful in the later stages of a tourney when trying to figure out if they are stealing or have a legit hand.

Thats an odd suggestion. Your tellnig me when you have a,2,3 you wont raise a table all showing picture cards as their door cards?

If you've got A23 though, it's highly unlikely that you'll be the one bringing it in - unless Jose is talking about just calling the bring-in from later position?

Well then you wouldn't be the bring-in. He's saying slowplay your strong hands when you're the bring in, which I like.

Tell me about it. I'm stuck on a boat in the Atlantic, and the internet connection here is too poor for private computers to connect to the internet

11 days days to go!

Sorry I guess I worded it weirdly. I'm saying if you have to make the bring in, never complete it yourself. Just bring in and then raise if you actually have strong hole cards. Chances are if you are bringing in, your hand is marginal at best, and tending towards crappy. I guess it would be theoretically possible to have a 3 door card and have to bring in (providing a full ring game), but in that case I would guess the betting will be capped before it gets back to you anyway.

Ye ok i get it now, i just misunderstood. Thats the same with stud, if your the bring in, dont compelte even with rolled up 4's for instance. As the complete shows strength

Razz on Pokerstars:

Anyone here that play the schedueled Razz tourneys on Pokerstars? I noticed they got quite a lot of Razz MTT's there every day.

Anyone know the average amount of players on those in the weekdays and in the weekends?