The Rule of Quarters:Razz

Okay, enough gloating. Following Squib's great section(twistedoreos.blogspot.com) on No Limit Tournaments. I want to do the same thing for Razz tournaments. If you want to read the rules on razz, go to http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/razz.php

Now then assuming you have knowledge of the game I'm going to use Squib's quarter timeline to base my game.

1st Quarter: Feeling out the table.

Basically, unless you know your competition from other games, you don't have any idea how your opponents play. Do they play big cards, are they loose, aggressive, tight, passive. Can they fold a hand. These are the questions you can answer for cheap. To start I recommend you only play big hands or easy steals. What is a big hand???

Bender's rule of Razz #1. Big opening hands.

Big hands to me are any 3 card 7, or situation where say you have a low door card(Card showing) and it's an easy steal like a 2 showing, K-7 in the hole against the only other opponent left and he shows a Queen. Recapping. 3 card 7's(7-6-5 as the absolute minimum) and spots where you can get a very easy steal without a fight such as a 2 showing against one final opponent who has brought in with a Queen on third street. These hands are either going to put you ahead for later streets(good) or pick up the antes and bring in's(also good).

Okay so you have played your 6-3-2 and you've gotten a little action say from a 5 showing. You must play tight during the first quarter. I can't recall anyone ever winning the whole tournament in the first hour or so but I've seen several people take an early exit.


What makes razz so very different(and frustrating) from all other forms of poker is you always need a five card hand at a showdown. How many times have you played holdem, had a straight draw on the turn and complete miss on the river. Now imagine just about every hand is like that. You're head will spin. In holdem if you have Pocket Aces, your hand will almost certainly be good without much improvement. Seven stud the same way. If you start with Rolled up aces, you likely will not need to improve to win the hand. In razz, you always have to improve your hand if you're going to win. A-2-3 as great as a hand that it is has to hit 2 of the next 4 cards to make a good hand.

So back to the example of 6-3-2 against an opponent with a 5 showing. Unless you are Phil Hellmuth and you can look into his soul, unless you hit either something that for sure gives you the best hand, or make a four card 8 minimum, I recommend folding.

Example 1.

Suppose the boards look like this

6-3-2-T

x-x-5-5

I recommend calling the bet or betting yourself. You clearly hold the best hand and can definitly can take a card off.


Example 2. Suppose the boards look like this

6-3-2-8

x-x-5-8

Again you can take another card off. At worst you are only slightly behind, and you will be getting enough pot odds with the antes to put another bet in.

For fifth, sixth, and seventh play your boards, but play tightly. If you hit bad cards early on, dump and just move on to the next hand. Allow other bad players to think that a T-8-9 on 5th street is solid. Basically you are looking for one of three things,

1. To easily pick up the antes with a very easy steal
2. To get out for as cheaply as possible.
3. To take a good pot here or there from a sucker.

There will usually be enough inexperianced players or downright idiots to give you a nice start to your tournament. The question is when do you go from Quarter One to Quarter Two. I'm gonna copy Squib and say the same thing. After 1 hour of play or after 50% of the field has been knocked out.


To rehash what the best advice for the first quarter is.

Play Big hands(3 card 7's or Steals with a very high chance of succeeding)

Play tightly on later streets. Only stay in the hand with a large edge.

Don't go gung ho without a wheel or boardlock(Which I'll explain later).

Know that you cannot win the tournament in the first hour, but you can lose it.



2nd Quarter: Accumlating chips.

Okay you have survived some melees, a few ATM's 4 betting with K-Q-J-J boards so they can go back to playing holdem. You have a nice stack, round average. Now is the time to open your game a little bit. The betting after the first hour on Full Tilt Poker is 100/200 ante 15. With a little extra in the pot and a tight image established, you can open up a little more.

Starting hands can now be increased to 3 card 8's (However I would use 8-6-3 as the worst of them)

Stealing the antes will be more of a key in the tournament. Don't be afraid to raise every now and again with say J-7 and a 2 doorcard against 1 good door card left to act. With a fair portion of donks knocked out by now, the remaining players have some idea how to play razz and will fold their T-K door cards accordingly.

As mentioned before look for spots where you have a boardlock.

Bender's Rule of Razz #2: Boardlock is your friend.
Basically a board lock is looking at your opponents 4 hole cards and your cards, you know for certain there is no card he can catch to win and you have a 100% chance of winning.

Example.

Suppose you hold

7-5-4-3-2-2

Your opponent has

x-x-8-9-8-7

You hold a boardlock over your opponent. The best hand he has now is 9-8-7-2-A and the best hand he can make on 7th street is 8-7-3-2-A. Your 7-5-4-3-2 beats that even without improvement.

The easiest way to identify boardlock is to picture the two best possible cards he could have now and the best card he can catch on the end. If you can beat that, you are 100% to win the hand.

Remember this is limit poker. Don't be fancy and try and set up a large reraise. Fire shells into the pot. This is the spot where you have the goods, you fire. I still recommend you play fairly tight, but you have to adjust and fire a little more to stay in the hunt. To help with decisions on later streets and even 3rd street, comes the most important rule of any stud game.

Bender's Rule of Razz #3 PAY ATTENTION TO THE BOARD!!!!!!!!!!

This cannot be stressed enough. You get to see at least 7 cards aside from your own. The value of your hand will greatly be increased or decreased depending upon what cards are live to you.

Suppose you hold say A-2-3 and you see that 2 players have a 4, two players have a 5 and three players have garbage. 4 of your wheel cards are now dead. While still playable as any 3 card wheel(5 low) It is not worth playing for 4 bets. As cheap as you can try and take another card off and see how it affects your hand.

On the other end of the spectrum, say you have 7-4-A. 2 other players have a 7, two other players have a 4 and someone else has an ace. Fire like mad with this hand. 5 bad cards that could pair you are now dead and your hand value has tremendously increased.

This same principle applies to all streets. If for whatever reason you have boardlock with Ten Low, cap it off if you can. But pay close attention to the board and how many cards are live. It separates good players from excellent players.


When does quarter 2 end? As Squibbles said Double the Bubble.

Review:

1. Open up just a little bit, but not too much.
2. Look for spots where you can acheive boardlock.
3. Run more steals, on 3rd street and later streets where you have the best board.
4. Adjust your play to the chipstacks. Some will be much larger than yours, some much smaller.
5. Keep track of your chipstack, and build wherever possible.


3rd Quarter: Opening the bag of tricks.

Okay there are only a few players left and you're hopefully getting close to the money. This spot is where you need to gamble it up a little more if you want to win. If your main goal is merely to cash, play extra tight. But if you want to make big money, you have to go for the top 3 spots. In most razz tournaments the field may only pay 3 or 4 spots. This is the point of no return. You have to decide do I want to sit in a foxhole and try just to sneak in a cash or go charging for the big dollars. Personally I try and go for the win, but this decision is yours.

With that said, We will say hypothetically that the 8 players who make the final table will cash. Now that a majority of the players left are not donkeys, playing completely straight-forward will no longer work. You should still play tight. You shouldn't think you can win a pot with 5-K-Q showing, but now is the time to run a lot more steals, run a lot more bluffs.

Your biggest prey will be small stacks, and players who are playing super tight trying to sneak in and can be run over. Your opening requirements in early position should still be 8-6-3 or better depending on board. In later position, you can play hands like K-A-2 but only against medium door cards or super-tight players. After hour 2 of a tournament, you will be playing 300/600 ante 50. Stealing the antes more frequently will keep you in the game, and keep you building. If you find yourself low on chips, really step up the aggression. Don't take in a suicidal hand, but don't be afraid to commit your chips with four to a seven low on 5th street.

I'll show you few tricky plays that will work against sophisticated players.

1. The setup.

Suppose it's a 3 way pot and you have 9-3-2 and your 2 is showing. Your opponent to your right completes with a 7, someone else calls also with a 7, and it's your action. With your tight image in place, you might reraise with a 2 showing. Likely both players call.

4th street shows.

9-3-2-A

x-x-7-6

x-x-7-Q

You will have the image of having a really good hand in front of you. Bet again.
7-6 may drop if he had a 9 or higher in hand or will only call with a 7-6 draw. There is no chance a 7-Q is going to stay in knowing he's gonna face more action.

5th

9-3-2-A-7

x-x-7-6-8

Bet again. Now the first opponent may have 8 low or a pair. He now must fear that you already have a 7 low made and even if he makes a 7 on the next card, he will have 7-6 and you will have that beat. He folds his hand and you take the pot.


There is luck involved with this play, but having your good cards showing and up front will help you win key pots. You set your opponent up with the intention to bet again if you catch well(even if you pair) against an opponent who catches marginal. You might get called down, but you have outs. Likely though players won't stay with marginal hands unless it's a massive chip stack or very low stack.
You don't want to bluff these guys anyway though. Bluff medium stacks, play legit against medium and large stacks, and gamble with low stacks.

Harrington's Rule of Ten that applies to holdem also applies to Razz. If a low stack is ready to get it on, and you hold a semi-reasonable hand(K-A-2, 9-7-6, J-4-3) and it's costing you less than 10% of your total stack, go ahead and give him action. If you lose, no big deal but if you win it's one less opponent separating you from the money.

When you are on the bubble, keep attacking. People will play extremely tight at this point, and you can pick up enough pots to keep you in contention for a victory.

Quarter 3 ends when you hit the promised land of the final table.

Recapping.

1. Decide, am I in to cash, or am I in to making the money. You may cash more often by playing tight, but the big dollars involved in winning more than compensate for several small cashes.

2. Open up your bag of tricks. Checkraising, trapping, setting opponents up, bluffing more often. Don't throw exclusivly fastballs anymore. Mix in some curveballs, sliders, breaking balls, even a knuckleball every now and again. Now is the time to keep your opponent guessing.

3. Gamble more. You have to give action to get action. Don't be afraid to take out some small stacks. Be a predator.

4. Keep your cool. In razz you will brick often. It is the nature of the game. By now you want to knock out a wall with your fist after brick-brick-brick. Let it go, be patient, and get ready to collect some more chips.

5. Be smart about your aggression. Put down hands where you are clearly beat. Dont play high door cards, your bluff potential is zero if your secret is out and the whole table knows you have nothing.

4th Quarter: The Endgame.

Congratulations and welcome to the final table. You may or may not have cashed by now. The fields in Razz are generally not huge so possibly you may have to get through 3 or 4 more players to make the money. That's okay, just continue the strategy from Quarter 3.

Crunch time. You see the seven players left in the game. All the money is now at one table. You see a couple large stacks(Hopefully you are one), a couple medium stacks(Not to be sneezed at), and a few very low stacks(Your early prey)

Here is a loose example of a final table I played in a while back.

Three Big Stacks started the final table. Myself, Katokat(A braclet race winner), and Bruinwoud(A top Stud 8/b player)

Three Medium Stacks also started. RedSlick(A $30/$60 Cash game regular), Chickendog(A WSOPC Qualifer), and RageMachine(A former Razz Winner)

Two Despratly Low Stacks Skins12345, and Spidermooch.

My strategy was to really punish Skins and Spider and force them to a decision. A loss to these two wouldn't hurt my chipstack much.

I would only occasionaly bluff RedSlick, Chickendog, and RageMachine or go in with a legit hand. They had the ability to dent my stack.

I would only play big pots with Katokat or Bruinwoud with big hands as they had the ability and the chipstack to cripple or possibly eliminate me.

My range of hands will vary depending upon which opponents are in the pot with me.

In my tournament Skins took 7th and Spider 8th.

Six handed, play more aggressive. It is now more key to steal as it is less likely someone has a legit hand. They have to have the fear that you have it. Wait for someone to slip or go on tilt with this 5 or 6 handed game and punish. Likely what happens in a tournament since we are all greedy, the other players will gang up on the one player for a shot to move up a spot. That's what happened to RageMachine. He got low on chips, The 5 of us ganged up on him, and I gambled in a hand that held up to knock him out in 6th. Bruinwould fell to the same fate. Got low, got punished, got knocked out.

Three & Four handed(By now you are surely in the money). At this point you have to think win. The only time this may not be true is if you are extremely low with another low stack and you think that you can move up a spot by holding on. Even here I would gamble 3 card 9's. Any time you can get a steal you do it. Hands like 3 card 9's in the right spot can be big. Draws become big. The betting is so big by this point it is conceivable to be able to get it all in there so the threat of elimination becomes bigger and bigger. Use this fear to accumulate chips and punish whoever is lowest at the table. If it is you, pick a hand and run with it. You will get some action, and with the right cards they can double you into contention. Luck will be key here.

As a side note ChickenDog got low here and he got eliminated.

Three handed Katokat, RedSlick, and Myself were all at very even chipstacks. RedSlick was the first to blink, I pounded him and Katokat finished the job.

Suppose you weather the storm all the way to Heads-Up. Well done man, but there's still one more opponent left. This is where you change gears to super super aggressive. Any time you have a door card that is a baby against a 9 doorcard or higher raise regardless. If he reraises, raise him back with good hands, call with all others. As soon as you see the paint cards on his side, fire fire fire. As sooon as they come on your board, dump. Tens, Jacks, Queens, and Kings showing when you have a 9 or better should be target practice. Fire. Be very aggressive. Likely this will be a long drawn out process since it's limit and it's heads up. A lot of situations will be clear cut. But by opening your hands and playing aggressive you can weaken your opponent down. Once he gets low, really start gambling. Finish him off. Hopefully that takes you all the way to the win and the big dollars.

Heads up vs. Katokat I had about 75,000 to his 55,000. I played very very aggressive and also caught better cards. My 7:5 chip lead quickly became 2:1, 3:1, 5:1, 10:1. I did double Katokat up once, but continued charging, gambled on T-7 low and won the tournament.


Aggression pays heavily when the betting is this big so do it.

Hopefully that leads to the win.

When does the 4th Quarter end? When you have won the heads-up, taken the big dollars, and have a victory brew opened and consumed :)

Recap.

1. Find low stacks and pound on them. Medium stacks bluff occasionaly, play more legit. Big stacks, play close to the vest, only rumble with a big hand or steal with very high chance of succeeding.

2. Gang War. Though unspoken, generally the other stacks will bully and punish a low stack at the table. If the low stack is you, make a stand before you run too low on chips.

3. As the number of players at the final table goes down, your aggression must go up. By heads-up it should be extremely high.

4. Pray that your key hands hold and your key pots are big. Luck will be a big factor amongst players at the final table.


Overtime. Basic Razz Tips for all quarters.

1. Never bring in for completion. Read Perry's Article at www.Fulltiltpoker.com under tips from the pros. What applies there to stud applies to razz too.

2. Draw smooth, dont draw rough. It is much more preferable to have a hand like K-A-2-3-4 than 9-8-7-6-5. The 4 card wheel is a favorite.

3. PAY ATTENTION TO THE BOARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. Keep your cool. Remember 5 card hands, every 3 card hand must improve to win. You will brick-brick-brick. But over the long-term the idiots who play jack door cards will go down in flames.

5. Try out some hand combinations on www.twodimes.net to get a feel for what odds beat what.

For example.

A-2-3 beats K-A-2 about 70% of the time.

6. You have to play to win. Get as much experiance at the play money SNG's and $5 SNG's as you can before you start playing real money. It's how I got my start.


7. Know that you may only see good cards 10% of the time. Even then only 1/2 the time will A-2-3- develop into even an 8. When you see these premium hands, play them. Most of the time they will be good.


Best of luck and maybe you'll win the next razz tournament....Unless you go up against me, then yeah, good luck to ya:)

Note: Bender2006 on Fulltiltpoker.com is a 3 time winner of Razz tournaments. He also has 5 other cashes including a runner up finish in the FTF Razz Turny event of Season 1. He is also is a member of www.fulltiltforum.com where players become champions.