Razz Pointers: 3rd & 4th Street

This is the first in a series of posts related to heads-up razz.

THIRD STREET:

As in any stud game, proper starting hands is a key to winning. However, when you are heads up, you will play a wide variety of hands. Razz is a game in which I rarely three bet unless I have a lock on my opponent. When you play heads-up razz, most pots are won on 3rd street. Here is a list of situations when you should complete the bet.

• Complete if your 3 cards are lower than your opponents door card. This one should require no explanation. However, be careful if you are playing 3 medium cards and your opponent catches good on 4th.
• Complete if opponent is showing a door card of 10 or higher and you are showing a door card of 9 or lower. In these situations you want to win the pot on 3rd. You might have (K-10)-3 against an 8. You probably have the worst of it on 3rd, but you can easily get away from your hand on 4th if you hit a brick and your opponent catches good. The only exception to this are hands where you hold two paint cards in the hole and your opponent's door card is only one rank higher than yours. You may want to proceed a bit more cautiously with this kind of hand.
• When you are starting with the higher card, call with 3 to an 8 or better if your opponent is showing 8 or lower in the door. Normally, when you have the high card, it is best to simply fold (or take the free card). Don't call a completion with a paint door card (even if you have A-2 in the hole)--it simply invites your opponent to continue betting and you can wait for a better spot. You want to take control of the betting, not your opponent. Of course, I am talking about heads-up play, so you may want to call with hands like (A-3)-Q or (A-2)-J and hope your opponent has a marginal hand. Adding this little bit of variety in your play will keep your opponents guessing about whether or not you have a hand. It can also allow you to see a free fourth street if your opponent does not complete.

FOURTH STREET:

The ideal situation for 4th street is for you to improve your hand by catching another low card in addition to your low door card while your opponent catches a bad card. Obviously this doesn't happen all of the time, but 4th street play is pretty simple in my opinion. I think people over value marginal draws on 4th street that can get them in trouble on the expensive rounds.

• If you are showing the best hand, bet. If not, fold to a bet unless you have a good drawing hand (8 or better). As simple as this sounds, I find many players misplaying hands on 4th street. If you were trying to steal with a hand like (10-9)-4 and you catch an 8 against an opponents board of 2-4, just fold when your opponent leads out. You may have the best hand, but wouldn't you want to get your money in the middle in a better spot than this? I would. Razz is a game where you will often throw away the best hand. Remember that you are trying to get your opponent to lay down the best hand too. As long as your opponent lays down the best hand more often than you do, you will be a winner.
• If both you and your opponent improve, and you get raised on 4th street, you should fold "continuation bet hands" like (K-9)-2-3. As I stated earlier, I don't like three betting in this game. Even with (A-2)-3-4, you don' t have a made hand. You are a clear favorite, but wait and see what develops on 5th street before going crazy. Against a maniac style player, I would advise raising with a wheel draw on 4th. I would also raise with a draw to a 6 or smooth 7 or 8 against an opponent raising with a higher card on board.
  

An Observation about Aggressive Players

Generally speaking, a tight aggressive style will bring home the money when you sit at a poker table. However, have you ever noticed how some of the looser aggressive players always seem to have your number? Lets assume that you are a tight player and you notice that another player is playing very loose and aggressive. This player is making the weaker competition fold when he bluffs and call when he has a good hand. You end up in a pot with this player and figure that your A-K is good on a board of K-8-2 rainbow. The maniac style player raises you a large amount as he has done to other players at the table and you call, figuring him for a bluff and he turns over 2-2 for a set and you're practically drawing dead.

Here is an observation I've had. This "maniac" knows that you are a tight player. He is trying to exploit his image by playing against you in the same fashion that he plays against the weaker players at the table. However, when he does this to you, the loose aggressive player will usually have a hand. Think about it. What kind of hands does this player need to raise you on the rainbow flop described earlier. Certainly he is not drawing in this situation. He is raising big hoping to get action from a hand that the tight player is "supposed to have" like A-K.

This "maniac" will play garbage against weak players and get them to fold. The "maniac" will play good hands against good players in the same fashion and hope to hit a monster. If you are playing tight, be aware when a good player raises you. They know you have a hand and it is most likely that they are holding a better hand. Also don't be fooled by an active player at the table who is chatting it up. Those players are trying to convey an image of being loose and aggressive when in reality, they are playing somewhat tight just like you. You always need to be observant when you are at the table.

Losing a huge pot

My normal cash game of preference is $1/$2 no limt hold 'em. I was playing at one of my local casinos where the norm for players is to buy in for the $40 minimum. I bought in for my normal $200 and was up to $600 after winning a couple of big pots that were coin flips on the flop (K-K vs. Ace & open end straight draw; top two vs. flush and straight draw). At one point I had more cash than the rest of the table combined. The player to my right then went on a nice run and got his stack up to a little bit over $500 and had busted a couple of players in the process. We were now playing 5 handed. It is rare that two players will have such large stacks at this casino. Most players just lose $40 or $100 at a time and people play crazy enough that if you are up big, you usually take your money and run.

After a limp, the $500 stack player raises to $17. I'm on the button and look down to see A-A. I reraised to $50. Everyone folds and the initial raiser calls. The flop comes Q-8-4 rainbow. My opponent checks and I lead out for $60. I get check raised to $260. I now have to think this one over. I know my opponent isn't calling $50 pre-flop without a hand. I quickly eliminate 8-8 and 4-4 as those hands are not good enough for this opponent to call $50 pre-flop after getting reraised. A-A, K-K and Q-Q are likely hands for him to hold and there is even a chance he may be holding A-Q and put me on a hand like J-J pre-flop. My initial read pre-flop was that my opponent held K-K. I figured if I bet all-in on the flop he would fold. I was also thinking that there was a small chance that he held the other two aces. Of course, if he holds Q-Q, I'm in horrible shape.

I was thinking for at least 3 or 4 minutes on this hand. I was also trying to figure out why my opponent walked away from the table after rasing me the $200. The initial limper called the clock on me which I thought wasn't too kind as this was a huge decision. I obviously couldn't flat call the $200. I was either folding or going all in. Well, as the title of this entry suggests, I pushed all in. I was going with my initial read of K-K for my opponent. He had Q-Q and I didn't spike and ace on the turn and river and he won a pot for a little over $1,000. I took the beat in stride as that was mostly profit for the session. Losing big pots hurts a bit more when you lose "your money" as opposed to losing "their money".

Ironically after that hand, I get paid off when I made top boat against the sucker boat. I picked up A-A two more times but got little action on the hands. I then doubled up again when I turned the ace high flush against a flopped king high flush. I ended the session up about $150, but it coudl have been much more. That's poker.

Lead out with the nuts

It is often quite correct to slow play a flopped monster hand in hold 'em. When you flop top boat you want your opponents to catch up so that you have the opportunity to get paid off on later streets. However, in a split pot game like omaha 8/b, leading out with the nuts is normally better play. Of course, nothing in poker is absolute. In hold 'em, you can deceive your opponent by leading out with a big hand and in omaha 8/b, you can slow play big hands too.

Lets say you catch a lucky flop of 8-2-2 when you hold A-4-8-8 in the small blind. Yes, you flopped a full house and only quad deuces can beat you. However, you really don't want to see any more low cards. Sure, your A-4 may be the best low, but anyone that plays omaha 8/b on a regular basis will know that there is at least one player with the A-3 drawing for low. You don't want to share the pot. Protect your high hand and bet. At an aggressive table you can go for a check raise in this situation as well, but you are often better off betting. Especially in this example as it is likely that someone flopped a deuce. You can lead out and get raised and go for a 3 bet or a check raise on the turn to extract maximum value from your opponent.

Leading with a big hand is more important to do in pot limit omaha 8/b. You want to charge your opponent the maximum to draw for half of the pot when you have the other half locked up. In a pot limit omaha 8/b game, you ideally want to have the nuts one way and have a free roll for the other half. If you hold Ad-2d-6s-7s and the flop is 5c-8d-9d, you'll certainly want to get it all in. In split pot games, don't let your opponents draw to half of the pot for a cheap price. If you have the nuts, make sure you get the whole pot. After all, scooping situations is what split pot poker is all about.

Why Professionals Bet Scary Flops

You can often find a professional or a skilled player betting into scary flops in hold 'em or omaha or when scary cards hit on the turn or river. The same can be said for stud games. The reason for this is that professionals can read their opponents better than an amatuer. However, one overlooked point about betting when scary cards hit has to do with your opponents. Whether you have a made monster hand or not, knowing your opponents well allows you to easily proceed on later betting rounds.

Obviously when you bet at a pot, nobody will complain when everyone folds and you drag the pot. If you are in the situation where you get called, depending on the opponent, you should be way ahead or way behind. If you know if you are way ahead or behind, you can easily proceed with subsequent betting rounds. If you flop top pair/kicker in hold 'em on a flushed flop and you get called by a rock, you are most likely running into a made flush. Knowing that, you can make easy decisions on the turn and river. If the board pairs, you may be able to push you opponent off of the hand, but you'll give up most of the time. Having easier decisions to make at the table will lead to better results. Think about it.

HORSE

A few months ago I played in a HORSE tournament. For those that don't know, HORSE is a mixed games limit tournament consisting of Hold 'Em, Omaha 8/b, Razz, Stud, and Stud 8/b. I drew a table that played pretty solid for the most part. I even had a former world champion at my table. I managed to make a full house against him on 5th street in stud and led right out and bet it. I read him as strong, so I thought I may get action, but I guess my read was wrong as he folded on 5th.

I played very well for the most part in the tournament, but made one misplay in stud 8/b. I had an open pair of kings showing on 5th and was leading out against a player who was clearly drawing for low. I end up with kings up on 7th and lead out again only to get raised. I know that my opponent knows that I can't have a low, but I figured he wouldn't raise me unless he had my high beat with aces up or a straight. I folded my two pair and my opponent showed the bare low hand. I did use this tight image against this same player later in hold 'em to take away a few pots.

I normally take advantage of my opponents in the omaha 8/b rounds and in razz. However, I was not getting anything playable at all in omaha 8/b. I went through three whole rotations before I ever played an omaha 8/b hand. I finally three bet on the button with A-2-3-4. I was a bit short at this point and got good action. I made the wheel and had deuces full, but ran into a bigger boat for high. I had gotten short stacked after making a "genius call" that wasn't so genius in hold 'em when I called a guy down with ace high and ran into his pocket aces.

I got lucky in the middle stages of the tournament to make a low in omaha 8/b when my opponent was holding quads for high. I accumulated some chips in stud when I made some big hands against a calling station of a player. I got paid off on an ace high straight and in stud 8/b I made aces up with a 7 low and scooped the whole pot.

Normally, razz is one of my better games, but I wasn't catching good hands at the right times. I was short stacked and was in the process of playing a big razz pot. I bet on 7th with a jack low and got my opponent to fold his 10 low. I also got lucky to win a pot with a 9 low in a situation where my opponents board was quite scary.

While I played well in this tournament outside of a few minor mistakes, I was unable to accumulate a lot of chips. I got through about 2/3 of the field and busted out shortly after my table broke. We were playing stud and I got it all in with J-(10-8). I was fortunate to have a maniac player bet out with just a pair of deuces and got the pot heads up with me after forcing others to fold better hands. Of course, I didn't pair up and I was out. Hopefully, I can do better in the next HORSE event I play.

Buy In Amounts

Most low stakes no limit hold 'em games or pot limit omaha games will have a cap on how much you can buy into the game for. This prevents someone from over bullying with a large stack as soon as they sit down. Obviously, if someone is sitting with a large stack, they probably earned it or got lucky. I'll focus on $1/$2 no limit hold 'em as that is my most profitable game. There is a lot of great literature regarding playing a short stack in PLO and playing a large stack.

When I sit down at a poker table, I'm pretty confident in my abilities and feel that I am probably one of the better players at the table. Because of this, I will normally buy in for the maximum (whether that is $200, $300, or $500, etc.). I want to have a lot of chips in front of me so that if I have the opportunity to play a big pot with another big stack, I can win a lot of money. If I'm on short chips, I don't have the opportunity to bust anyone when I flop bottom quads against top boat. Having a lot of chips also lets me see a few extra flops than I would on a short stack. I'm still playing tight aggressive on a big stack, but I'll see a few more flops with suited connectors and such when pot odds warrant.

If you are just starting out, I would recommend buying in for the minimum. This will basically limit your losses on any given hand. You can also buy in for the minimum if you are going to be seated at a table full of deep stacked players. Lets say the maximum buy in is $200 and the other 8 players are all sitting with over $800 each. You may be better off playing a short stack and gambling a little bit on a minimum buy than a full buy. You can also buy in for some amount between the minimum and maximum in similar situations.

One overlooked point about max buy in cash games is that you can always reload up to the maximum buy in at any point in time. Normally, if I buy in for a $200 maximum, I will keep another $100 in green chips in my pocket. If my stack drops below $175, I'll casually drop a green chip on the table and instantly reload. This way, I can be at the maximum when I play a big pot and hopefully double up or bust another player. The other advantage of this is that a lot of players will not notice your newly found green chips and might think you are playing fewer chips than you are actually playing. This is why I prefer to reload with the green $25 chips as opposed to the red $5 chips.

Normally, in $1/$2 no limit hold 'em games, there are only $1 chips and $5 chips in play. Adding a few $25 chips into play may allow you to make a play on an opponent. Some players will envy your green chips and do anything they can to get them. Against these players, I'll only bet the greens when I have the nuts. Other players will fear the green chip, thinking that you don't want to part with them and when you bet a green chip, you have the nuts. I may be more inclined to bluff with the green chips against those players. You just have to feel out your opponents to see how they would react to a green chip.