Thanks in part to the rise in popularity of mixed games such as H.O.R.S.E. Razz (the R in H.O.R.S.E) is now more commonly spread by online poker rooms and as a result new players are trying out this fun, yet sometimes frustrating, game.

One of the most common mistakes made by new and experienced players alike is slowplaying a good starting hand. Since the best possible hand, or nuts, is 5-4-3-2-A, players often decide to slowplay a starting hand such as A-2-3 in order to try and win a large pot. This is wrong for a number of reasons, including the fact they are just begging to be outdrawn over the next four streets of action with the majority of the deck still to be dealt. The only time it would be correct to slowplay would be if you had the nuts and nobody else was showing a card lower than a six.

Impatience is another flaw many Razz players possess, especially as it is quite common to fold a large percentage of your starting hands. In Razz you have to post an ante regardless of if you want to continue with your hand or not and this can become very frustrating if you see your chip stack dwindling while you are receiving unplayable cards. However, sitting tight and waiting is much better than playing sub-standard hands and potentially losing even more money.

The biggest mistake any Razz player can make, regardless of their skill level, is failing to follow correct bankroll management. The game itself is naturally high in variance and there will be periods of time where you are simply paying the antes or bring-in bets and then folding your hand. In order to be able to outlast these barren spells you should make sure you sit at the table with at least 50 big bets and have at least 500 big bets in your overall bankroll. This means to sit at a table with $1/$2 blinds you should sit down with at least $100 (and be prepared to re-buy) and if you plan on staying at these stakes you should have around $1,000 at your disposal.

To a beginner, Razz hands can be as confusing as the Omaha poker rules are to those used to playing Hold’em.

However, if you stick with it you’ll find Razz makes a nice change from the more commonly found forms of the game.