How To Play Your Hand On 3rd Street - Razz Strategy

January 2, 2008

Now that we’ve established our starting hand criteria, most of the work is done. Now how do you play your hand?

Early position – as in any game you can sometime limp with a great hand hoping to reraise a raiser, or if not, buying you some image for later on if you limp with medium hands. And as in any other game, it’s risky to play marginal hands from early position.

In the middle be more inclined to play your hand straight forward. Don’t reraise with medium hands – building the pot now makes it correct (because of pot odds) for weaker hands to chase on later streets even if they miss, and you’d rather they be chasing your monsters, not your medium hands.

Late position – depending on the cards showing, if it’s folded around to you you’re likely best off raising with any OK or better hand (see the article on starting hand criteria). If you have a [74]5, I would raise because the 7 is hidden, but I would not raise it with the 7 showing when there were smaller cards yet to act. On the other hand, if your doorcard is the lowest card left, as long as it’s 8 or lower you can raise with darn near anything in the hole and expect to win the antes.

If it’s limped to you – limp with OK hands, now there’s some money in the pot to make it worth seeing the next card. If you don’t have a strong hand, be cautious about raising because you may get a reraise from someone slowplaying a monster from EP. If you have a good or great hand, and there are players to act after you, you should raise to force marginal hands out, reducing your risk of being outdrawn. Think about it: you can play an OK hand after two opponents limp, therefore if you just limp with a Good hand then the next guy can quite reasonably play an OK or even a Poor hand because of all the money already in the pot (especially if he is last to act and it can’t be raised behind him).

If it’s been raised in front of you – remember the ‘Gap Concept’. It takes a stronger hand to call a raise than it does to make the first raise. If it seems there is little risk of more raises behind you, your good 7s are playable, and maybe very good 8s, like [83]2 – but there’s not harm in letting those marginal hands go while you are just learning. If you know the other players, be aware of who is raising. A first raise in the middle from a fairly loose player means a lot less than an early raise from an absolute rock. And you’d best have a huge hand if you want to reraise, unless it’s a LP raise that’s a potential steal, then raise with Good hands to isolate.

When you are the Bring-in: If you caught the forced bring in half bet with a 9, T or J, but your two hole cards are wheel cards, then you’re OK to call if it comes back to you for only a completion bet (i.e. someone raised from the half $1 bring in to the complete $2 SB). Doubly so against a late raise from someone who may be stealing. If you’re up against only one player you have roughly a 4-1 chance of out flopping him on the next card. If he catches a face card and you get a baby, you may be able to take the pot away on 4th street. If he was stealing with junk in the hole, then a bet from you on 4th will almost certainly take the pot.

Lastly, position: most all you Hold’em players are away of positional considerations. These exist only to a tiny extent in Stud games, since where the dealer is becomes irrelevant. Remember the first round of action starts with the worst card out, and after that it’s the best cards out that start the action each round. So your position can, and most likely will, change during the hand. Don’t overcall a raiser and a few callers with a mediocre hand just because you are last to act on the first round (as you would in hold’em on the button with suited connectors) - there may be other reasons to do this (did I mention the importance of LIVE CARDS!?!), but position is not one of them.

Frez is Bonus Internet Poker’s writer on strategy and theory in most poker games. He has been playing poker for over 5 years between a mix of online and live games. If you would like advice or to have Frez look over a hand that you have question about you can email him here. Your questions will be posted on the site and/or monthly newsletter. frez @ bonusinternetpoker.com

Poker rooms that are recommended for Razz ring and tournaments games are Poker Stars and Full Tilt. If you enjoy Razz or are learning to play there will always be enough action at any stake level for all players at these two rooms.

More Razz Poker Strategy

How to Play Razz

Starting Hands in Razz

Playing 3rd Street

Playing 4th Street

Playing 5th Street

End game - 6th and 7th street