S
Stan7777
Rising Star
Bronze Level
Some say you can't bluff in RAZZ. Boy are they wrong. The art of the bluff starts with hand selection. Thus you must be profiecent at board reading. You also must be a student of the art of
table image.
You get (K 10) 2 an insta fold normally. You can also replace either hole
card with a paired flop. Your in mid position to late mid and the bring has
been done and then folded to you. You look at the board cards of the
opponents left to act. I also watch all folded board cards as part of my card
counting procedure every hand. The first criteria is you should have the
lowest board card of the players remaining. I will make the play with a 2 and
an ace showing if the ace is a tight player. He'll fold the none 3 card low.
Which actually helps me against the other opponents. To clarify for those who
don't play RAZZ much. The 3 low is generally 3 cards 8 or under unpaired on
the flop. A low 3 can become a problem on future streets as odds favour lower
cards on those streets becoming more likely. We prefer to make this play when
hands are 7, 8 , 9 ect. against us on the flop. You complete only. Never
reraise here! If reraised after you, fold and move on.Then you look to 4th
street for the key card. A low card is important, but higher cards for the
opponents is much more important. Lets say you get a 4 to go with the 2.
Board (X X) 2 4 and the best of 2 opponents is 3 9. You got something started
now. Next you only bet the minimum if its unraised to you, never check and
never, ever reraise. They will alaways call. Important point here. Your table
image should of established you as a tight good player already. That means
your reraises are on nut made hands only! And I mean only. So lets get 5th
street. You have ( X X) 2 4 6 and you chased 1 opponent with the last bet
leaving (X X ) 2 9 10. They have a ten low possible at this point to your
possible 6 low. More Importantly we know they need 2 card improvement to beat
our mythical 6 low. This is board reading at it's fundamental level. We set
this up by betting 4th street and now bet again on 5th street. You take down
the pot 8-10 times right here. The opponent has to consider runner/runner to
beat you and that's a tough hill to climb. If he had 2 low cards less than 5
in the hole he would have raised you after the flop. Thus you can be assured
he doesn't have the ability to beat a made 6 high. That's the good RAZZ
players thinking here. What's my best possible hand and and what is likely to
be there's. If your called and you both see 6th street one rule applies
because they needed runner/runner to get to a hand that beat or equalled your
6 high potential holding. Raise with anything after 6th street. Your playing
probabilities versus your actual hand. I've used X X for our hole cards
because they don't matter here. Who cares about them being K 10, we didn't
when we decided to play so don't now. If 6th street gives us a Q we bet out
and reraise if we are given the chance, even reraising the reraise if we are
so lucky. We are representing the nut 6 low to the max. If they improved by
hitting a card under the 9 they still only have a 9 low ar best. You gotta
sell the nuts for all it's worrth. The best you can get yourself is 10 low
now and that's not going to win against a perpetual caller here. You now
should have the pot won 9-10, maybe a little better percentage than that. On
the river you absolutely bet out. There are very few things in poker more
satisfying than scooping a pot with garbage! You must be willing to sell it
to the very end. If they bet out on the river even reraise again, though your
probably going to get called I like it as one last stab at getting them to
fold.
A somewhat similar approach can be used on another simillar bluff/steal. This
is the semi bluff on 3rd or 4th street. You can only use it once per hand.
But many times at a table once you've established table image. You must have
established your table image 1st. You must also not have reraised before 5th
street and only raised with made nut hands, Again board reading so important
to deciding to make this play! You get ( A K ) 2 the bring and folded to you
in late position, 2 players or fewer to act. This is a very key point to this
steal. 3 or more players and you do not make this play. In the event of
multiple callers you have to be able to manage future streets. More players
makes this very difficult. Where 3 low On the flop 5 high or lower is a
natural reraise in RAZZ I save that exclusively for A 2 3 to allow me the
opportunity to reraise to steal here. A 2 3 rarely makes it too the river.
Betting will normally shut it down before 7th street. I always make sure the
table knows what I reraised on after the flop to help set up this play. The
other criteria is the board cards of the other 2 opponents., excluding the
bring of course.They must both be 6 or higher. we don't want to reraise into
a potentail 3 under 5 hand on the flop. Not with are ugly king in the hole. I
should point out that your not reraising as a form of pot building. You just
want to win the pot and move on. This is simillar to the holdem strategy on
the button raising to steal blinds and antes. Stealing small pots allows you
to see more hands and stay longer in a tourney. Same here in RAZZ. Those
antes add up. It helps negate the pain of the bring also. note The bring is
the complete bet and is forced by the house to be done by the highest card on
the flop. What do you do if you get a caller or even 2 to 4th street. Now we
read the board for each opponent again. If you have the "potential" best nut
hand raise or reraise again. We're stealing after all! Lets say our board is
now (A K) 2 A. Its a terible card, couldn't be worse? Yes it could! Much
worse. We may have some bluff/fold equity with a bet. You only have 2 choices
give up on the hand as you need runner/runner/runner to make any kind of low
or fire a bullet. We reraised on the flop thus we can make the holdem
equivilent of a continuation bet here. Your looking for a board that is (X X)
6 7 or worse held by your opponent/s. There staring at potentially needing 3
runners to beat or tie your potential 5 high. Good players rarely call your
raise. If they bet 1st reraise everytime or fold. Never call with this type
of holding.If they call and you get a 3 4 or 5 on 5th street absolutely fire
another bullet even if thier hand gets a card under 5. They have to decide if
they need runner/runner to chase you for low. The most important cards in
RAZZ are the board cards for leveraging your bets. In other forms of stud the
hole card are more important. Your playing the other players boards in these
steal examples. Simply put in RAZZ your always playing others boards as well
as your own. Playing the player is the second, less desireable option. Nut
low boards is a key to deciding wether to see another card or not. Moving
your chips on the other hand is always designed to convey information.
Including the old favorite of mine. You gotta pay for your draws folks!
You can't make this kind of play early in a freeroll or tourney. But your not
ready to anyway because you haven't established table image yet as being a
tight player. Remember also you want your bets to mean something to the rest
of the table. Only reraise with nut made hands 5th street and beyond. Never
reraise on a 4 card draw. You want your opponents to believe you have the
made hand when you reraise. In limit this is the only true form of fold
equity I have been able to develop. They're folding on my word that I'm good
in the hand, But we all know there's a little larceny in poker.
table image.
You get (K 10) 2 an insta fold normally. You can also replace either hole
card with a paired flop. Your in mid position to late mid and the bring has
been done and then folded to you. You look at the board cards of the
opponents left to act. I also watch all folded board cards as part of my card
counting procedure every hand. The first criteria is you should have the
lowest board card of the players remaining. I will make the play with a 2 and
an ace showing if the ace is a tight player. He'll fold the none 3 card low.
Which actually helps me against the other opponents. To clarify for those who
don't play RAZZ much. The 3 low is generally 3 cards 8 or under unpaired on
the flop. A low 3 can become a problem on future streets as odds favour lower
cards on those streets becoming more likely. We prefer to make this play when
hands are 7, 8 , 9 ect. against us on the flop. You complete only. Never
reraise here! If reraised after you, fold and move on.Then you look to 4th
street for the key card. A low card is important, but higher cards for the
opponents is much more important. Lets say you get a 4 to go with the 2.
Board (X X) 2 4 and the best of 2 opponents is 3 9. You got something started
now. Next you only bet the minimum if its unraised to you, never check and
never, ever reraise. They will alaways call. Important point here. Your table
image should of established you as a tight good player already. That means
your reraises are on nut made hands only! And I mean only. So lets get 5th
street. You have ( X X) 2 4 6 and you chased 1 opponent with the last bet
leaving (X X ) 2 9 10. They have a ten low possible at this point to your
possible 6 low. More Importantly we know they need 2 card improvement to beat
our mythical 6 low. This is board reading at it's fundamental level. We set
this up by betting 4th street and now bet again on 5th street. You take down
the pot 8-10 times right here. The opponent has to consider runner/runner to
beat you and that's a tough hill to climb. If he had 2 low cards less than 5
in the hole he would have raised you after the flop. Thus you can be assured
he doesn't have the ability to beat a made 6 high. That's the good RAZZ
players thinking here. What's my best possible hand and and what is likely to
be there's. If your called and you both see 6th street one rule applies
because they needed runner/runner to get to a hand that beat or equalled your
6 high potential holding. Raise with anything after 6th street. Your playing
probabilities versus your actual hand. I've used X X for our hole cards
because they don't matter here. Who cares about them being K 10, we didn't
when we decided to play so don't now. If 6th street gives us a Q we bet out
and reraise if we are given the chance, even reraising the reraise if we are
so lucky. We are representing the nut 6 low to the max. If they improved by
hitting a card under the 9 they still only have a 9 low ar best. You gotta
sell the nuts for all it's worrth. The best you can get yourself is 10 low
now and that's not going to win against a perpetual caller here. You now
should have the pot won 9-10, maybe a little better percentage than that. On
the river you absolutely bet out. There are very few things in poker more
satisfying than scooping a pot with garbage! You must be willing to sell it
to the very end. If they bet out on the river even reraise again, though your
probably going to get called I like it as one last stab at getting them to
fold.
A somewhat similar approach can be used on another simillar bluff/steal. This
is the semi bluff on 3rd or 4th street. You can only use it once per hand.
But many times at a table once you've established table image. You must have
established your table image 1st. You must also not have reraised before 5th
street and only raised with made nut hands, Again board reading so important
to deciding to make this play! You get ( A K ) 2 the bring and folded to you
in late position, 2 players or fewer to act. This is a very key point to this
steal. 3 or more players and you do not make this play. In the event of
multiple callers you have to be able to manage future streets. More players
makes this very difficult. Where 3 low On the flop 5 high or lower is a
natural reraise in RAZZ I save that exclusively for A 2 3 to allow me the
opportunity to reraise to steal here. A 2 3 rarely makes it too the river.
Betting will normally shut it down before 7th street. I always make sure the
table knows what I reraised on after the flop to help set up this play. The
other criteria is the board cards of the other 2 opponents., excluding the
bring of course.They must both be 6 or higher. we don't want to reraise into
a potentail 3 under 5 hand on the flop. Not with are ugly king in the hole. I
should point out that your not reraising as a form of pot building. You just
want to win the pot and move on. This is simillar to the holdem strategy on
the button raising to steal blinds and antes. Stealing small pots allows you
to see more hands and stay longer in a tourney. Same here in RAZZ. Those
antes add up. It helps negate the pain of the bring also. note The bring is
the complete bet and is forced by the house to be done by the highest card on
the flop. What do you do if you get a caller or even 2 to 4th street. Now we
read the board for each opponent again. If you have the "potential" best nut
hand raise or reraise again. We're stealing after all! Lets say our board is
now (A K) 2 A. Its a terible card, couldn't be worse? Yes it could! Much
worse. We may have some bluff/fold equity with a bet. You only have 2 choices
give up on the hand as you need runner/runner/runner to make any kind of low
or fire a bullet. We reraised on the flop thus we can make the holdem
equivilent of a continuation bet here. Your looking for a board that is (X X)
6 7 or worse held by your opponent/s. There staring at potentially needing 3
runners to beat or tie your potential 5 high. Good players rarely call your
raise. If they bet 1st reraise everytime or fold. Never call with this type
of holding.If they call and you get a 3 4 or 5 on 5th street absolutely fire
another bullet even if thier hand gets a card under 5. They have to decide if
they need runner/runner to chase you for low. The most important cards in
RAZZ are the board cards for leveraging your bets. In other forms of stud the
hole card are more important. Your playing the other players boards in these
steal examples. Simply put in RAZZ your always playing others boards as well
as your own. Playing the player is the second, less desireable option. Nut
low boards is a key to deciding wether to see another card or not. Moving
your chips on the other hand is always designed to convey information.
Including the old favorite of mine. You gotta pay for your draws folks!
You can't make this kind of play early in a freeroll or tourney. But your not
ready to anyway because you haven't established table image yet as being a
tight player. Remember also you want your bets to mean something to the rest
of the table. Only reraise with nut made hands 5th street and beyond. Never
reraise on a 4 card draw. You want your opponents to believe you have the
made hand when you reraise. In limit this is the only true form of fold
equity I have been able to develop. They're folding on my word that I'm good
in the hand, But we all know there's a little larceny in poker.