Not too much action in this forum lately, but I played a few of razz hands recently that made me think. Razz is part of an online mixed game with a relatively small player pool so me and the villain (same one for all three hands) have some knowledge of one another. I think he plays reasonably well-tight, aggressive, never really out of line.

Hand 1:
Q brings in, 7/Q/T fold, A completes, Hero calls (23)4, Q calls the complete
4th: (23)49 v (xx)AQ v (xx)QK, Hero bets, AQ calls, KQ folds
5th: (23)495 v (xx)AQ6, Hero bets, villain calls
6th: (23)495J v (xx)AQ6T, Hero bets, villain calls.
7th: (23)495J(A) v (xx)AQ6T(x), Hero bets, villain raises, Hero 3b, villain calls (24)AQ6T(8)

Anybody like villain’s 7th street raise? How about his call?

Hand 2 (4 handed):
Q opens, 7 folds, Hero completes (9A)5, (xx)A raises, Q folds, Hero calls
4th: (9A)54 v (xx)A2, villain bets, Hero calls
5th: (9A)549 v (xx)A2Q,
Hero bets (?), Villain calls. Checking essentially tells villain I have a 9 in the hole, and if he paired his 2 on 4th then he’ll likely fold here, but he doesn’t so I need to improve…

6th: (9A)549K v (xx)A2Q2,
Hero bets, villain calls. Gulp. Doesn’t look like a 2 in the hole, I’m probably going to have to bet the river no matter what I draw…

7th: (9A)549K(7) v (xxx)A2Q2, I improved a bit but not really excited to show this down since I doubt I win at showdown, villain calls: (56K)A2Q2 for Q high?! Interesting call to say the least…

Hand 3:
Q brings in, Hero completes (25)3, 9 folds, Villain raises (xx)A, 6/J/T/Q all fold, Hero calls and we’re heads-up on 4th street.

4th: (52)39 v (xx)A9, villain bets hero calls. Seem pretty standard here, our hands should be similar although villain is likely a bit ahead since he 3b on 3rd street.
5th: (52)39K v (xx)A98, villain bets, hero calls. Again seems standard-I have a draw to 9 that is better than 98.
6th: (52)39K8 v (xx)A98J villain checks?! This was a bit weird, I like my 98532 but I’m suspicious so I check back?!
7th: (52)39K8(4) v (xx)A98J(x) now villain bets out.

Does Hero call or raise here? Thoughts on 6th street?

h1 i think his raise is awful. i mean he's thinking he's gonna get extra value vs your 9 low, but the way i see it, your range should include a fair amount of bluffs given the 5 on 6th street vs his board. so he's raising a hand that just auto wins vs a good portion of your range anyway, meaning the other hands squish him or fold. i prob rr pre also


h3 i'd just bet. yeah it's weird, but when weird happens i think going for the straightforward bet when checked to, or a calldown when that situation arises, tends to be the better option. like he can have 987Ax lows here that feel really uncomfortable betting here, which imo is not uncommon in big pots in razz.

i do like raising river. imo 6th is a street of weakness for him and he has to have a perfect hand to beat yours. and you block 234, so ya

You're systematically undervaluing basically every hand here.

1) Villain's raise tells you that he assumes the standard play, including for himself, is to bet an unimproved Nine on the river to get a call from a Ten. No surprise he calls because he's talked himself into thinking he's had the best hand the whole way. Bad raise of his since an 86 will seldom be better than the hand you make if you improve on a Nine.

2) Why are you thinking you can't win at showdown with a Nine against a guy with a Q and a pair on sixth? His one card draw will make a Nine or better less than half the time. Betting that board doesn't make much sense unless you either can beat a Nine or have paired, so when you bet he has to think the chances you paired nines or fives is pretty high, so he properly calls with a Queen. Another thing, your bet as a bluff is bad given that he just called your three bet with an 86. This guy ain't a folder... which actually means you should have been looking at betting your Nine as a value bet. Dude is gonna call.

3) Seems like he three bets you a lot and you don't pop him as often. Assuming he has better than your 532 is pretty weak. Also, if you only reraise with A23 or A24, then your are turning your cards face up. You should call on the end because you should have been checking on sixth simply to get him to bet seventh. You showed weakness the whole hand. Take advantage of that on seventh by letting him bet your hand for value.

Ya, I also thought his reraise was bad, unless he thinks I’m going to bet a 9 into a guy who looks like he’s drawing to a 6. And you’re right about 3b on 3rd, I should be more aggressive here. I tend to not 3b on 3rd very often since 1) the equities between real hands run pretty close at this point and 2) 3b on 3rd usually means a monster (A23/A24/234 or thereabouts), and I prefer not to give away that information, however in this instance there’s already been 3 folds and there’s only the bring in left to act so he’s more likely to have a steal hand.


I can certainly see the point in betting when checked to here, but he 3b on 3rd when I opened a 3 into an A and a 6, immediately after the bring in. My sense is that he has a very strong starter, and my 98532 is worse than his 98xxA.

I played 7th very timidly and just called, my 85432 beat his 9832A. He probably should be able to find a fold if I raise but I doubt it, lesson learned.

That is a fair assessment, I do tend to give opponents a lot of credit in razz.

Nice analysis, I completely agree that his raise is poor, exceeded only by calling the 3b.

I actually thought his call here was okay, it’s just not something I would’ve thought of in real time. Another nice analysis on your part.

True that he likes to 3b more than me. In this particular instance, I’m first to act after the bring in and there is an A and a 6 behind me, so he should expect that my hand is reasonably strong. And I agree that only 3betting A23/A24 turns your hand face up, so I’m fairly sure what I’m up against here. And indeed I did check on 6th here as we should both have 98xxx here, and I’m reasonably certain that his xxx is better than mine. On 7th street, I just called the bet and won vs A2398. As you noted in hand 1, villain seems to overvalue his hands and would likely have called a raise here.

i'd just like to add i wouldn't even consider myself remotely good at razz and those are just my first glance thoughts.

h1 only thing i can confidently say is i want to 3b pre.

h3 i get why you're assigning this ace a somewhat stronger range based off of the information pre, but another way to look at it is his range widens again given the idea that he's got an ace on top and it's easier to win HU than it is 3-ways.

kinda crazy to me that he did check that hand on 6th but maybe he was going for a c/r.