Bring-In Bet Defense
As most of you know, in Razz, the player that has the highest board card showing is the bring-in bet. This bet is usually equal to double the size of the ante. A player in the bring-in bet in Razz is in worse shape than player in other stud games due to the fact that the low hand is the best hand, and you are already drawing to the worst hands from the start. In other stud games, you could possibly have a relatively decent starting hand depending on your hole cards.
There are some situations that can lend themselves to a player defending their bring-in in a Razz game. First, what is your door card? In most cases, you do not want to defend your bring in with a card higher than ten. Some players will defend with a jack but you are severely handicapping yourself. You are also telegraphing your play in most cases if you follow the next step in determining if you should defend your bring-in.
What are your hole cards? In order for me to defend my bring-in with a high door card, I want A-2 or A-3. I may defend with A-4, but if I do, I want a non-pairing wheel card as my 4th street card. Note that when you defend your bring-in with a big card showing, most players will have a good idea of what your hole cards are. Expect your opponent to jam you.
Next, how many of your cards are still live? If you were paying attention, you should know how many of your needed wheel cards are out. I also keep track of cards under eight when I count my outs.
The last thing to consider in defending your bring in is what type of opponent you are facing. Are they a tight player or one that will try to steal from you? Don’t defend against a really tight player as they are likely to actually have picked up a hand.
Once you decide to defend your bring-in, each street becomes important to determine whether you stay in the hand. When you start with a large door card and two small cards, you want to either improve or have your opponent catch bad. If I catch a bad card on fourth, I will likely abandon the hand to a bet. Of course, if my opponent catches bad, I may bet into him. In this case, when I say they catch bad, they have caught a card higher than my door card. Now they are drawing worse.
In the event you catch good, you need to evaluate the type of hand that they are drawing to. If they catch a low card, what are they potentially drawing to? At this point, it is a matter of what your read is on them at to whether you want to continue in the hand.
Fifth Street is the crucial card. At this point you need to have 4 cards to a decent hand or you need to get out. Of course, if your opponent catches bad, this will help your decision, but you want to have four cards to a hand that will “outdraw.” What your opponent is representing.
As you can see, a big part of defending your bring-in bet depends on your ability to put your opponent on a hand. If you do not feel comfortable in doing so, then go ahead and take the safe way out and fold your hand.
Tags:
Bring-In Defense, Poker, Razz, Razz Poker, Stud Poker
