There are a lot of variations of poker; the stud varieties, the hold ‘ems, Badugi, Pai Gow and many others, and pretty much all of these variations are found online. Many of these games are all played during tournaments, for example in a HORSE tournament where the “R” stands for Razz.
If you think you can’t play Razz because you have never played it before and it comes up in a tournament. Don’t worry; you can play it – if you can play 7 Card Stud. Since around 2004, Razz has become more popularly played online and if you find yourself playing online poker at tournament level, you may find yourself unknowingly faced with a game of Razz.
In Razz, the lowest hand wins the game, and this is what makes playing so much fun, you have to change your mindset to be a low hand player. Playing Razz will exercise your poker brain, and believe me, with all the things you need to remember when playing poker – your brain could use all the workouts it can get.
The same set of skills apply to playing Razz as any other poker game, you need to bluff if you have to and timing is everything. You also have to be patient, and bluffs in Razz can be more difficult than in games where a high hand wins. In Razz your opponents get to see most of your cards – in a case like this, you can see why bluffing may be difficult, and the fact that more skill is required.
The worst possible hand in a normal game is the best hand in this game, and it is A-2-3-4-5. Playing online means a bluff has to be set up right at the beginning of the game. Visual clues as to what your opponent has in their hand will not be available, and online tells are only apparent, after a few rounds of play, when you start to see betting patterns and other tells.
Aces are always played low, seven cards are dealt to each player, straights and flushes don’t count against you and pairs are bad. Starting hands should be three small cards and no-one should play with anything larger than an 8 in their hand – except when a 9 shows on the deal and everyone has facing-up cards which are higher, or if you happen to be in a steal position, with a baby (small card) facing up and the other remaining or 2 players is/are showing a big card.
It is vitally important to track cards when playing Razz as this allows you to know if your hand is still live. Dead cards are cards that you know are in someone else’s hand because you have seen them, so there is no chance of you getting them out of the pack.
Although learning to track the cards is vitally important to winning in Razz, it is also a poker skill which will help you with every other variation of the game you play. There is a lot more to playing poker than just wheeler dealing – this is why you have to be a thinker to play.