Don’t Play Stud When Everybody Else Is Playing Razz

Four of the six screengrabs here are from the daily E5.00 + E.50 Pot Limit Razz Limited Rebuy tournament on Ladbrokes. I have a terrific record in this tournament, and this is one reason. Well, sort of.


A razz tournament on Ladbrokes, September 2012. At least we were playing razz; the other bloke was playing stud!

Razz is a low game: flushes and straights don’t count, ace is low, and the lowest hand wins. Some players enter razz tournaments thinking they are playing a regular form of poker, probably 7 card stud or a version thereof, which is the only reason I can think of for a guy raising with a set of jacks.

Although this sort of thing is mildly amusing - except for the player concerned - there is a serious message here. Always be aware of what game you are actually playing. Mixed games are now fairly common, and it is easy to lose track: are you playing stud, stud hi lo, or razz?

Mixed games aside, if you are playing Omaha when everyone else is playing Omaha hi lo, you may well lose a lot of money, and if you are playing cowboys and injuns when other people are loading their guns with real bullets instead of blanks, you will find yourself in very deep water indeed.

All the grabs apart from the first one are in chronological order. The first is from a tournament played in September 2012, as far as I can remember.


March 30, 2012: The guy with the set of jacks thought he d won the hand; he didn t realise he was play razz rather than stud.


June 29, 2012: This guy was playing stud; unfortunately for him, the rest of us were playing razz!


September 9, 2012: This guy thought his jacks up were good. He was playing stud while the rest of us were playing razz!


October 15, 2012: The guy with the 9s thought he was way in front raising with a back to back pair.


October 20, 2012: This is from a small triple stud tournament on PokerStars; veddas thought he was playing stud, an easy mistake to make in mixed games.

[The above article was originally published as a blog September 28, 2012 with 2 screengrabs. Two of those here are also used in It’s Razztastic!.]


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