It's Friday and Razz

Tonight is Friday night if you were not aware. What that means at my house is pizza, pop and poker or the 3 Ps. Family must come first so Enthusiast Wife and I will order a couple of pizzas and hang out with the kids for a while and maybe watch a family movie. Eventually, at some point, I will fire up the poker machine for a night of frustration or elation depending on the poker gods. No this isn’t every Friday night but it is many of them. There was a time that you wouldn’t find me anywhere near home on a Friday but those times have gone. Now we either stay home or have a required function to attend. Some may think this is a boring life but it is what I have and I find no problem with it.

I’m hoping that the variance I’ve seen over the last few days will turn around. I’ll just try to continue making good decisions and let the cards fall as they will. Maybe a return to HORSE and RAZZ will get me back on track.

I read a good post here about Razz strategy and think that most of what I read is accurate and is similar to how I play. I think to put a complete set of rules for all situations is impossible but if you need help with your Razz game then read it and you will be blessed. One point I would challenge is that you may want to call a bet after 4th street when you have a draw that is better then your opponents holdings. Even a raise on 5th may be in order when you are drawing to the nut or near nut when you are behind. If your opponent has a made 8 on 5th and you hold A246Q to his xx875 you are behind but any 3 or 5 probably shuts the door and an 8 or 7 may put you in the lead. And if he didn’t complete but just limped then you have to put him on a less then premium hand thus making you stronger. In this case a 3 or 5 will win the hand short of your opponent hitting the wheel so you are drawing to 7 cards that should give you the win plus any 7 or 8 will put you ahead if he bricks. That is in essence 6 more outs for 13 total. Now depending on what cards were thrown away at the beginning you have to subtract outs so lets say there were three outs on the board. Now you have 10 outs to catch a winning hand. There are 38 unknown cards left so you have about a 26% chance of hitting your card twice or 52% total. He still needs to hit a card lower then his 7 that doesn’t pair him up. That leaves him6 or 7 outs that may not may not be good anyway if I hit a 5 or a 3. He actually has about a 35% chance of improving over two street and will lose over half the time even if he does. In this case it is the wrong play to fold on 5th as I am behind but have will improve to win almost half the time and will get paid off every time when I win. If you add the fact that he may be playing a high card in the hole then calling on 5th is a positive play.

I don’t know if this made any sense but I understand my demented logic. It is demented because to play Razz you have to be a lunatic.

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Softball Enthusiast has another game on Saturday night so we will be enjoying another evening of ball. I’m looking forward to seeing if the girls make any adjustments after their first game.

That’s it for now…have a great weekend.