Bluffing is actually a pretty big deal in razz because the game has the property of high variance. I will write a little bit about bluffing in razz poker and you can read the full detailed guide in my article about how to bluff when playing razz poker. Players who are involved in a game with high variance will want to knock players out early in the game. The reason is because razz poker deals out 7 cards and you need to make a 5 card hand. Each player’s hand will vary by a lot and it is likely that they will come up with some type of good hand with that many cards being dealt.

Also, there is a strategy that players need to take advantage of when bluffing and that is to steal the pot or take the antes and bring-in bet as well to beef up your own chip stack. Players are more likely to fold when you bluff right after being dealt the starting 3 card hand because there are 5 rounds of betting and the pot usually grows by a lot. That means players are less likely to be committed to wagering this much money unless they have a decent hand.

Also, you do not want chasers to stay in either since high variance properties of razz poker will allow for these chasers to finally catch the hand that they are chasing and end up winning the whole pot, even if they started with a poor hand. So one of the main points of straight bluffing at the beginning of a hand is to knock out these players early by raising. You should have a low and powerful door card showing as well in order to make your bluff more relevant and convincing and other players should have high and weaker door cards.

The goal in any hand of razz is to get the fewest number of competitors on the table, ideally heads up with one other player or just to have them all fold. Your odds are pretty much 50/50 if you knock out everyone except one player. If there are 6 people playing with a good chance of all of them making decent hands, your odds are 1 in 6 of winning. 50/50 is much better odds to play with considering your opponent may have a hand that looks like it might be powerful but it actually isn’t.

Later in the round, you will want to semi-bluff because many players will usually call the bluff after they have invested so much money into the pot so far. Semi-bluffing should be done on 5th street or later on after you have a 5 card hand. Note that on 5th street, the blinds get doubled from what they were on 3rd and 4th street so this is also a time for players to fold before the money starts getting much bigger, so keep this in mind as well.

This is the last part of the 4 part strategy guide to razz poker. Check out the in-depth detailed article about advanced razz poker strategy for the informative strategy. I will write a basic run down of the strategy here in this post. Yesterday, we talked about different kinds of bluffing and when to really use the bluffs. Today we will talk about 4 common types of players you will come across and how to use advanced strategy to take advantage of each type of player.

There are four main types of players:

Tight and Aggressive

Tight and Passive

Loose and Aggressive

Loose and Passive

In short, the tight and aggressive player is very easy to spot. Tight players are conservative and tend to fold often but aggressive players tend to go all-in or raise when they get something good. So if you see a player folding on every hand and then suddenly raising like crazy, then you know that this is a player of the first type. The strategy with these players is to bluff more often and steal the antes early in the game since they will usually fold. If they suddenly start betting aggressively, this means they finally got their powerful hand that they have been waiting for, so it is wise to fold during this time.

The tight and passive player is harder to detect. They will usually fold often but when they get something good, they will just call your bets without raising aggressively. Watch these players to see how often they fold. If they fold often but then suddenly start calling your bets, they may be trying to slow-play their powerful cards and draw more money out of you so be cautious. Passive players tend to be more advanced and experts like to use the passive strategy often.

The loose player who is aggressive is another easy one to spot. They will usually bet money on every hand and call often, but they will become aggressive once they get something good. The strategy here is to not try bluffing them often because they are loose and will probably call your bluff. If the become aggressive, watch out because they will usually have the strong hand.

The loose and passive player is indisputably the most dangerous. They bet on every hand and will call all the bets, but they will not become aggressive when they get a killer razz poker hand. They will slow-play their powerful hand until the end and will usually draw out lots of money from other players at the same time. Again, restrain your bluffing and play tight with these kinds of players since they tend to be the most advanced.

Experts tend to use a combination of these player types in order to throw their opponents and competitors off their game. What I would recommend is tagging a note to each player and write down what kind of strategy they use. This way if you come across them in the future, you can remember their ways and take advantage of their playing style to win more money.

Yesterday I talked about the beginners guide to razz poker. Today I am going to go through a short version of the intermediate guide to razz poker and go through some of the mid-level topics that are important to razz. You should be comfortable and pretty well versed in the rules of the game and experienced with some basic bluffing by now as well as reading players more easily. This guide will go through more intermediate and advanced methods of bluffing.

There are two types of bluffing known as straight bluffs and semi-bluffs. Both of these are generally used only during certain parts of a hand. Straight bluffing is essentially used most effectively at the beginning of the hand after players have been dealt their starting hand. You need to take advantage of the door cards on the table. Straight bluffs actually means that you are bluffing but would surely lose the hand if someone called your bluff. So on a 3 card hand, everyone knows that you do not have a full 5 card hand obviously and this would count as a straight bluff.

Players are supposed to get the impression that you have 2 powerful hole cards with that powerful door card. In fact, you might have K-K-A with the ace showing, which would be a horrible hand, but no one knows about the kinds so ignore all of your hole cards when bluffing. If everyone else has higher door cards, then raise and try bluffing.

Later on, semi-bluffing becomes more effective after you have 5 cards dealt already. More players will be less willing to fold to a bluff after they have committed so much money to the pot after 4 or 5 rounds of betting, so a semi-bluff is much smarter than a straight bluff. In a semi-bluff, you should have at least a decent hand or be chasing a likely good hand. That way if a showdown occurs, you still have a chance of winning. If other players do not call your bluff, then you win the hand anyways without a showdown. Use semi-bluffs on 5th, 6th and 7th street.

There is much more to this intermediate guide when you read the article in the link above so I encourage you to read the full details there. I will write about the final advanced guide tomorrow along with the expert’s article.

Continuing from yesterday, I will write a basic version of razz poker beginners strategy and continue the second part of the strategy guide. This guide is intended for novices and beginners who are just learning razz poker or have never played it before. This information will go through a few basic things you should learn in order to get good at razz strategy before moving on to the intermediate and advanced guides.

I wrote a detailed guide in the link to the article above but I will go through the same thing in shorter words. Beginners should read the rules and learn how to play the game by reading the articles in the link above. Basically, you are trying to make the lowest 5 card hand out of 7 cards possible. If you have played 7 card stud played for the lower pot, then this game is essentially the same thing. A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest and strongest possible hand in razz and this is your goal.

Straights and flushes do not count for anything in the game so you can ignore those. You should pay attention to pairs though because these are always damaging and you must throw out an extra matching cards as you can only count one. The dealer will deal out 3 cards at the beginning after everyone has paid the ante. Two are face down and one is face up, known as the door card. Whoever has the highest door card, which is also the weakest, must be the first to bring in action by making a bring-in bet.

Now the beginners strategy should focus on the door cards on the starting hand. This card is facing up for everyone to see and this becomes an important aspect to take advantage of. If you have an ace or a 2 showing, you should raise the pot because these are strong. If you have a 3 through 7, just call. If you have anything higher, it might just be wise to fold.

There is a little bit of bluffing you can do as well. Remember, do not bluff on every single hand or else everyone will get used to it. The first thing in bluffing is to ignore the 2 hole cards in your starting hand (the cards facing down that only you can see). Make sure your door card is strong with an ace or 2 and make sure everyone else has high door cards before bluffing. Since a lot of money needs to be invested through 5 rounds of betting in razz, more people are likely to fold if you raise really early with an ace showing for example. This is a great way to steal the antes as well, but make sure everyone else has weaker cards showing.

For the rest of the game, watch 4th, 5th and 6th street or the 3 next cards to be dealt that are open or facing up for the table to see. If players get a pair showing, this is very bad and you should attack the heck out of that and become aggressive, especially if the rest of their cards are low. There is a great chance they will fold in this situation and you can take the pot. You do not want to keep too many players so late into the game since they might actually get a great hand after being dealt 7 cards, even with a pair.

So the main goal as a beginner is just become more comfortable with the rules and learn how to bluff better. Focus on door cards and watching what players have with their face up open cards.

I am going to write a basic 4 part guide to general razz poker strategy over the next few days that will include an beginners, intermediate and advanced guide to strategy. There are a few basic things that players should keep in mind, particularly about razz poker. Razz is a game that is not as well known as many other poker games. Just this fact alone suggests that there will be fewer people to play against in poker rooms.

When there are fewer people in play, then you can get to know certain players better and write notes on them. By doing this, you can keep track of different kinds of players over a long time and take advantage of various player times to become more profitable in the long term. Also, there are many inexperienced players that are just trying out razz poker to see what the game is like and this is another profitable advantage if you use this fact in your strategy.

One of the main strategies that you will learn in razz poker is to steal the pot and get players out of the game quickly. The reason behind this strategy is the fact that razz poker is a game of high variance. Because players are dealt 7 cards, there is a higher chance of them getting a decent hand by the end of the round. You are less likely to win if there are many players during the last round of betting before the showdown. Also, you can take advantage of the fact that 5 rounds of betting usually requires a lot of money to be invested into the pot and many players do not want to commit to doing this after only a 3 card starting hand.

So the goal is to bluff and steal the antes and bring-in bet early in the game. Keep out the “chasers” who are trying to get to the end without betting much and catching a powerful hand later on. This high variance property of razz ensures a high probability that these chasers will “catch” their high ranking hand. So get these players out early on 3rd street (when the 3 cards are dealt on the starting hand) either by bluffing or raising them. You will find that the strategies will mostly all revolve around these concepts.