Razz Poker Starting Hands

This guide will go through different starting hands and should help you determine which hands are good enough to use and continue in play. We will also explain which razz hands are bad to play and how to use this with your strategy. Some of these starting cards will be "ugly" or those kinds of hands where they are sort of good but sort of bad.

Generally, you can classify your hands into about 4 categories of use as excellent, good, fair and poor, which will soon be self explanatory. Once you get an idea of what types of hands you should really be looking for when you start the game, razz will become quite easy to play and your skills will quickly become second nature where you do not have to think hard about it anymore. The first thing you need to remember is the starting hand is just the initial 3 cards that you are dealt. Two will be face down, which only you can see, and one card facing up, which everyone on the table can see.

Excellent starting hands are very easy to come across. The main goal in razz poker is to form the lowest possible hand with 5 cards out of 7. Your starting hand will consist of three cards. If all three of your cards are 5 or lower, this counts as an excellent razz starting hand. The best possible starting hand is A-2-3, but 3-4-5 would also be considered excellent.

Good starting hands are those where your highest card is a 6 and the rest are lower than this. So 4-5-6, 2-3-6 and A-2-6 would be considered good hands to start off with and they certainly are since your chances of winning are much higher.

Fair starting hands are somewhat ugly and a little good. If your highest card is 7 or 8 and the rest are lower than this, then your hand is fair. A-2-8, A-4-7 and 6-7-8 would all be considered fair, but the A-4-7 would be a little better since your highest card is lower than 8.

Poor starting hands would be those that are bad and have a much lower chance of winning. If your highest card is anything equal to 9 or higher, such as 10, Jack, Queen and King, then you have a poor starting hand for razz. Remember, kings are the worst possible hands.

Now that you got this basic frame of reference, you can now manage your game much better as well as your strategy. Study these awhile and practice playing online to get experienced more. Remember, these guidelines are just general rules of thumb to use before factoring in what the other players have and what kind of player they are. If you are a beginner, the then you should follow these tips.

As some more advice, pay attention to how many people are still left in front of you who will take action or bet after you. Also look at their face up door card as well to consider if you are going to continue with the game. For example, if you are the first to bet and you have a poor or fair hand where you would be willing to call but not raise. The reason is that the chances are high that all the people that still have to make their decisions will raise the bet and you would fold, where you would lose money in the process. Also check to see how tight or loose the players are. If they are not as aggressive, they may not raise either. Although, the details of strategy will be left for a different article.