Browse > Home / HORSE Poker Strategy / Razz Intermediate Strategy

Razz Intermediate Strategy

April 25, 2009

In this article, we’ll be covering the essentials of an Intermediate Razz Poker Strategy. An intermediate level strategy is intended for moderately experience players who have already applied the fundamental strategies at a beginner level, but wish to further their Razz Poker progress on the felt.

We are offering this Razz Poker Strategy Guide in 3 sections, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. If you haven’t done so yet, please read our Razz Beginner Strategy, where we covered the importance of Starting Hand Selection, the value of the Door Card, and how maintaining patience and discipline will keep novice players from making costly mistakes.

Razz Beginner Strategy
Razz Intermediate Strategy
Razz Advanced Strategy

In this second installment of our Razz Strategy Guide – Razz Intermediate Strategy – we will be discussing several key tactics to upgrade your skills in Razz Poker. These will include proper Street Betting, how to Read the Board, and knowing when the time is right to upgrade to higher stakes.

Razz Intermediate Strategy – Street Betting

Razz Poker consists of 5 betting rounds. The first occurs after you receive your Starting Hand. In our previous articles, Razz Poker rules & Starting Hands, and Razz Beginner Strategy, we covered proper Starting Hand selection, so please refer back for these if necessary.

3rd Street: If you have a good Starting Hand, you’ll want to move forward with the first betting round. A premium Starting Hand warrants a Call, Bet or Raise from any position. With a good Starting Hand, you can Call or place a moderate Bet, but placing/calling a large Raise is not recommended unless you’re in position. From late position, your options remain the same as a premium Starting Hand. You also have the option to Semi-Bluff in hopes of scaring your opponents away from the pot and stealing the Antes.

4th Street: You should have a pretty good hand at this point to consider moving on; at least 2 Wheel Cards (A – 5) and one other card of 8 or below.

5th Street: At this point, you have only two more cards coming. Your hand should have 4 cards of 9 or below, including 2 Wheel Cards, preferably with an Ace involved.

6th Street: If you’re not one card away from a made hand, there’s no point in moving on. The best scenario is to have 5 cards of 8 and below, 9 at the highest. If you have only 4 low cards, they should be no higher than 6 to consider betting.

7th Street: Simply put, if you don’t have 5 cards of 9 or below, Fold. If your highest card is 9, and you don’t have an Ace, Fold.

Before taking this Street Betting section to heart, be sure to read the next segment, “Reading the Board”, very carefully. It greatly effects the general Razz Poker Street Betting strategy above.

Razz Intermediate Strategy – Reading the Board

A good Razz Poker player must be able to read the entire board, not just his own cards. There is an incredible amount of valuable information lying face-up on the table if you simply take the time to read it. Every face up card on the board gives you insight to your opponent’s hand, as well as your own future hand developments.

When your opponents are showing all low cards, such as 6 and below, you know that your 7-high hand may be no good. If they are showing A-3-4, you also know that your chances of being dealt an Ace, 3 or 4 have decreased.

Let’s say you have 2-3-5-7-Q, and desperately need an Ace and/or 4 in order to make your hand. If there are two Aces and one 4 showing on the board, you can forget about the Ace since the likelihood of getting one is very slim. The 4 may come, but will a 7-high hand win the pot?

When an opponent is showing confidence in their hand, you must assume their face-down cards are pretty good. If the face-up cards are lower than your own hand, take the safe road. Fold and conserve your chips for a better opportunity.

If you count your opponent’s hole Cards as being the best possible cards, and combine them with the face-up cards they are showing; then compare that potential hand with your own and find you have them beaten, you know you have the Nuts.

For instance, your best hand is A-3-4-6-8.
Your opponent is showing *-*-5-9-5-Q-*.

You know that his best hand is 9 high. Because the 5 paired, one of them is eliminated. The Queen is too high, therefore also eliminated. To make a 5 card hand, he must use the 9. Your 8-high hand has him beaten.

By reading the board, you can learn a lot of information to increase your profit potential in Razz Poker. Also try to remember all face-up cards that get Folded early. This will help you determine the chance of being dealt good or bad cards as the hand goes on.

Razz Intermediate Strategy – Upping the Stakes

When a poker player experiences a few wins, their first instinct is to play higher stakes for a shot at winning even more money. Be very careful about upping the stakes in poker. The higher the stakes, the more fierce the competition.

A player should start at the lowest stakes available and only move up a single stake level at a time. Upping the stakes should only be done when you are consistently winning at the current stakes. If you find yourself consistently losing at the next level, drop back down to the previous stakes and work your way back into the positive numbers. Get a little more practice and try upping the stakes again later.

Upgrading Strategies

Apply this Razz Intermediate Strategy in combination with what you already learned about Razz Beginner Strategies. Once you become accustomed to the addition of intermediate strategies, so much so that they become second nature, only then should you implement a more Advanced Razz Poker Strategy. You’ll find the advanced strategy link below:

Razz Advanced Strategy

Written by Rob · Filed Under HORSE Poker Strategy 

Comments

Comments are closed.