3. 3rd street [Playable Hands]

3rd street [Playable Hands]

Playable hands in a fullring Razz Game with 8 players are hand like 762/346 and an [A2]8. When u get a hand dealt which contains three cards unter 8 you can take a look at the next card without beig worried you make something wrong. This situation is actually pretty interesting with a hand like that. Your hand is good, but not so good that you would find it hard to fold.What you usually should do with a hand like this is at least see 4th street. You see razz is not a game like hold 'em. In hold 'em if you have a monster like AA you know the odds of you winning the hand are hugely in your favor. In Razz things are very different. That is not to say a hand like a 2 3 does not give you a big advantage, but that monster you have on 3rd might worth alot less on 4rth and maybe even worthless on 5th (unless you want to gamble and try to draw at a hand. Thats usually not a good idea though). Any other hand like 3-cards to a nine can be fold, although there are situation in which u wanna steal with such a bad hand or in which you wann defend against a steal with an medicore hand. But this will be mentioned later.
If the pot is big at 3rd already and a XX2 got reraised by an XX4 and re-re-raised by a 6 you can fold your 567, because your cards aren't live. Yeah that's possible, Razz hands can be live or kinda dead. But you dont have to fold.So even though your hand 5 6 7 is almost certainly not the strongest hand and your cards not that live in this kind of situation your odds are pretty good. All these reraises alot of good cards are out. the odds that anyones hand in this situation might become worthless are good enough that you at least want to see 4rth. Given all these people think theyre hand is good enough for them to re-raise and then re-raise again is a sign that these players might have some trouble getting away from this hand untill all hopen is lost. This means they will chase, and in case your mediocre hand suddenly became the best hand on 4rth that can become very profitable. And in the case you dont hit, just fold. It's as simple as that.

Just adding a simple additional thought to this topic. Pay attention to the door cards of your opponents when determining what starting hands to play. If you see a card in your hand as someone else's door card it makes your hand more playable because it means you are less likely to pair.

E.g., I may have 874 as a starter. Now normally I'd consider that hand playable but not terribly strong. I might call a bet with it to see 4th or open with it if there are lots of bricks out there as doors, but I would probably fold 90%+ facing a bet and raise.

However, let's say I have 874 and two other opponents are showing 8s as their door and one is showing 7. That's three less cards out of the deck that would pair me. It increases the hand strength and now I would definitely want to see 4th street and probably would call even with a bet and raise in front. It's made even better if one or more of the players with these cards as doors end up folding.

The point is learn to look at and take into account the other cards dealt to your opponents to better assess the strength of your starting hand as well as the continued strength (or weakenss) of your hand as the streets progress. It takes practice to learn to "remember" everyone's cards, but its well worth it and any serious player who isn't doing this is hurting their long-term roi.