4th Street Razz Strategy

January 8, 2008

4th street in a stud game is different than the flop in Hold’em. It’s more of a tease. In Hold’em the flop shows you 71% of your final hand (5 out of 7 cards) after just one betting round, and maybe you hit a made hand. In a stud game, one betting round only gives you 57% of your final hand, and in Razz you never have a complete hand in only 4 cards.

Obviously on 4th you’re either going a catch a card you like, or one you don’t. You like small unique cards – you dislike big cards or cards that pair you up. The same goes for your opponents, with the interesting twist that neither of you will know for certain when the other caught a card that paired one of the ones in the hole.

Let’s start with the cases where you caught a card you like. If your opponent also caught what looks like a good card you should bet when first to act if you seem to have him beat at the moment – rarely go for a check raise. He will check behind you if he paired a hole card, and you will have missed a bet and/or given a free card to let him catch up. If you are second to act and he checks, you should always bet if you have not paired yourself. In fact, even when you have paired it’s OK to throw out a bet against tight opponents who may fold here. However if the hand is multi-way, or there is a lot of money in the pot you’re likely to get called. If you have a good hand you can just call his bet – sometimes raise, and only when you are in very good shape. Say you have [A2]65 and he has [XX]64 and you have not seen any 3s gone, nor any other 4s – then you’re in good shape and can sometimes mix a raise in.

If you caught good (or what looks good, but paired a hole card) and he caught an ugly card, bet no matter what. He will most likely fold here, but if he calls it’s OK because his habit of calling when he catches bad should extend to when you go have four unique low cards and he’s way behind.

Now if you caught a bad card – one that is obviously bad – and he gets what looks like a good card, you should almost always fold. If there is a lot of money in the pot, and you can see 5th for only one more bet, you can sometimes call. If you started with [A3]4 and got some raises in preflop, then catch a J, you can call against something like a [XX]67 (unless your outs are very dead) because the low cards you have are better than both his cards. But only for one small bet.

The most straightforward case is when you both catch obviously bad cards. Here Sklansky’s advice is all we need. A T-high is a favorite over a K-high. A J-high is about even vs. a paired board. Be cautious. Never play a multi-way pot when you know you are behind – if someone with a slightly better board bets here, and someone else calls, let it go and wait for a better day.

Those cases all assume you started with a good hand – but what if you didn’t? What if you tried to steal but got called, or if you were the bring-in and got to see 4th cheap. Here again, if you catch a card that looks good against one opponent who caught bad, then bet and hope to take it right there. If it looks like you are roughly even, don’t try to get fancy – remember your opponent chose to put money into the pot, so he probably started with a better hand than you.

Lastly, situations where your opponent probably started with a bad hand: maybe he was the bring-in and you limped with a medium hand but no one else called, or he made what could be a steal raise and you called from the bring-in with a medium hand. If you catch good, bet of course. If you get a bad card, let it go if you are behind (both his showing cards are better than yours), but if it looks even, call and see 5th if your outs are live.

If the pot is multi-way and the best hand bets before you, then a worse hand (than yours) calls in the middle, always raise when it comes to you. Either the guy with the worse hand is going to call along, making a mistake, or you’ll get rid of him and have his bets in the pot as dead money. Either result is good – letting him along for a single bet and a chance to get lucky is bad.

Next, the key card – 5th street. Until then, good luck!

Frez is Bonus Internet Poker’s writer on strategy and theory in most poker games. He has been playing poker for over 15 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

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