Let's Play Razz

I love playing razz. It's a simple game, to be sure, but therein lies its charm. Anyone can learn to play it well. You'd think this would lead to razz games being offered in every casino and poker room you'd care to walk into, but that – unfortunately – is not the case at all.

If you're lucky enough to find a razz game, it's probably being offered as part of a tournament menu. After all, tournament organizers don't always like dining on a diet of hold'em day after day, with only a pinch of stud and Omaha to garnish the stew, so occasionally they toss in a razz event. The World Series of Poker always features one razz event, although it's not really well-attended. I suppose it's faint praise to credit razz with more popularity than poker's real orphan, deuce-to-seven lowball. But deuce-to-seven lowball has always had a lock on last place.

I'm always on the lookout for a razz game in Southern California, where one would think that the competition spawned by a multitude of casinos within a 30-minute drive of each other would motivate at least one of them to offer razz just to gain a competitive edge. Well, sometimes they do, but the only razz game I've seen lately had limits of $200-$400, which – to put it mildly – won't appeal to the masses.

A lot of players are fond of dissing razz as a simple game that doesn't require much strategy. And I suppose that's true as far as it goes, although like most partial truths, it does not go far enough. Because razz is so straightforward, it's a terrific learning resource. Players can easily see many of poker's theoretical concepts coming into play in a way that's not at all confounded by the complexities and subtleties of games like seven-card stud and hold'em.

In razz, you generally know where you stand relative to your opponent, because it's easy to put him on a hand and be fairly certain of your assessment. In fact, you can always discern his best possible hand just from his exposed cards. That's the essence of the game. Yet, there are players who seem unable or unwilling to play their best game all the time.

These are the folks you want at a razz table. An overly aggressive player who's fond of raising or reraising with the second-best hand is just what's needed to understand how rewarding razz can be. A player who is out of control, on tilt, and takes the worst of it and keeps calling is always a welcome guest.

Whenever there are poor players, or even good players who are momentarily out of control, razz will be their undoing in a way that hold'em or stud poker seldom is. After all, making an out-of-position raise, or trying to bull the game with weak holdings – a tactic that might buy you a pot or two in hold'em or stud, or even intimidate cautious, conservative players for an entire session – will seldom work in razz.

If you find it difficult to believe, consider this anecdote: I was playing razz a few years ago – during a brief, happy interlude when one of the local casinos in the Los Angeles area actually offered a $20-$40 razz game on a regular basis – when a well-known and highly regarded tournament player decided to join us. We found ourselves heads up shortly thereafter. My board showed 9-7, while he had a K-10 in plain sight. I bet, fully expecting him to fold, but he raised. I reraised, and he grumbled as he called. The very best hand he could have been holding at that point was K-10-2-A. He was pretty far behind me, and I knew it. I suppose he would have realized it, too, had he paused even once to assess his actions.

My next card was an 8. He paired his 10 and folded when I bet, and kept on grumbling as though I had picked his pocket. He played like that for the better part of two hours, until he finally got up and walked away, three racks the worse for his efforts.

I can't tell you why he played that poorly, but everyone at the table knew that we had a designated "live one," and as long as he was willing to throw off chips on hands that really were untenable, we were going to sit there and keep playing. Razz is not a game that lends itself to much bluffing. Even if you credit an opponent for the best possible hidden cards he could have, you'll often know with certainty that you have the best of it. You'll also realize when the chances of outdrawing your opponent are too slim to risk your money. After all, most razz hands get heads up rather quickly, and the pot odds often won't justify buying another card.

The clarity of situations like these makes razz appear almost to have been designed to teach each and every one of us how to become better poker players. If you can't learn to exercise discipline playing razz, you're unlikely to ever learn it. Razz punishes the undisciplined player more than any other form of limit poker. While it's quite possible for an unschooled, undisciplined hold'em player to book wins out of sheer luck, it is almost unthinkable in razz. If you play razz against an undisciplined opponent, you are an overwhelming favorite regardless of his style of play.

Perhaps this column will generate some interest in spreading razz at affordable limits. I certainly hope so. Or, perhaps a casino will offer a rotation game, like ROE (razz, Omaha high-low, and seven-card stud high-low). Right now, I'll take what I can get – even if it's only a half-hour of razz every 90 minutes. If you're like me and would like to see razz offered regularly, you know what to do. Just ask your neighborhood card casino to start a game. After all, we won't get a razz game going unless we ask.

Visit my website at www.loukrieger.com. My newest book, Poker for Dummies, is available at major bookstores everywhere