40 POKER STRATEGY TIPS

31-40

31. The other players’ up cards. This is a very important aspect to razz strategy. Observant Razz players will view the upcards and tend to have a much better idea of their relative hand strength. Sometimes the up cards will tell you exactly what to do.

32. Live and Dead Cards. This is an important aspect of 7 card stud. While in that game, you are wanting your cards to be “live”, in Razz you prefer them to be “dead.” For example, if you hold Ace, 3, 6 to start and you see two other threes, a six and an ace, you can feel even better about your hand because it means there is less of a chance that you will make pairs! Catching pairs can kill a great starting Razz hand, so the more dead cards you see the better.

33. Jamming vs. Slow Playing: Razz is not really a slow playing game. There are exceptions of course, but generally speaking if you have a good hand, you want to jam it. One reason is that by jamming it, you generally create a big enough pot on third street that it allows you to call on fourth street even if you catch a bad card, based on the size of the overall pot. You can get right back on track with another good low card on fifth street. By all means, do your best to use overly loose and aggressive players weaknesses against them, but you won’t go wrong by just betting and raising when you have the best of it.

34. Best Draw vs. Made 9 Low after five cards. A interesting feature of Razz is the little known fact that after five cards are dealt, the best drawing hand is a favorite over any made nine low. In most forms of poker the made hand usually leads the betting to make the draw hands pay, but in Razz, the opposite is true on fifth street. Things are back to normal on 6th street however. With one card to come, the made nine low is now a favorite over the best draw and should definitely lead the betting.

35. Knowing when to fold ‘em. If you make a habit of starting with sub par hands or drawing with weak hands vs. powerful boards and stronger draws, then you will just be leaking chips and blowing your bankroll. As with other poker variations, if it looks like you are beat, you probably are. Save your money for when you have the best hand and then play aggressively. Especially in low limit games, players tend to have the hands they represent, so don’t pay off three or four more bets to “keep them honest”! When good hands turn bad, release them. Patience!

36. Stealing the Antes. Ante stealing is important, especially the higher up you go in limits. Several situations are great for ante stealing attempts. First, if the bring in player is immediately to your left and it is folded up to you, you should always complete the bet to steal the bring and antes. You do not have to be successful every time for this to be a profitable play. Another good stealing shot to take is when you are the lowest up card.

37. Study Fred’s clear presentation of starting hands and how to play them pre and post flop to start building your tournament chip stack in the early stages of the tournament.

38. Change gears and begin to play a “raise or fold” strategy that will help you survive to the final few tables where “in the money” means a significant portion of the prize pool. Again, the reader will find a very clear and concise explanation of how to change styles, proper hand selection and how to play those hands on the flop and beyond.

39. Chip stack size and aggressive play are major keys to final table strategy. Fred’s revealing articles on how to win freeroll and low buyin multi table online poker tournaments conclude by breaking down a strategy based on the size of your stack and the number of players, and includes a working method of beating an opponent heads up.

40. If you’re sitting out you auto-fold everything — even good hands. Still, if somebody knows their own skill level well enough to realize that they will not be able to stop themself from spewing their chips away on bad hands then good for them.