And now for something completely different....

Actual Poker content ahead !

Tusdays Skills game had 67 runners and the game was RAZZ. Can you say Saweeeeet?

Unlike most in the Blogger kuh-myoo-ni-ty, I love RAZZ. If you know much about me, you'll know my penchant for STUD Hi. Well RAZZ, is exactly the same only backwards.(did I actually write that?) Anywho.... The game itself can be frustrating because of the changing equity of your hand upon the arrival of the next card on the later streets. Like the infamous "one-outers" in NLHE, during a RAZZ game things can change by you actually making a hand, while you seem to have no bricks left in the deck that can hurt you.

There's also the great gambit run all the time in RAZZ, where so many cards are visible that gamblers just can't help themselves when the are showing say x-x-A-4. The strength, (I guess that's really weakness huh?) they appear to be holding can make betting machines out of even the best of the players out there. Give them a 6 or 7 on 5th. street and watch out. You'll need to hold on tight a their chips go flying towards the center of the pot at the greatest of speeds. To that player, it doesn't matter that their hole cards are K-K. They are showing the best hand and others should get the hell out of the pot. I ran into this exact hand and the aggressor just kept firing another shell. My hand up to 5th. street? [A-3]-5-6-2

The other frustrating thing about RAZZ is, it seemingly always happens that in a game where the worst hand is declared the winner in the end, finding premium starting hands includes three cards of say 5 or lower. (this is my opinion and I would say it's considered fairly standard) For a STUD player, it's incredible how many times this can happen in RAZZ. I read HOY had 3 rolled up hands in the first 90 minutes. At least I beat him at something heads up, this was my 5th. time it happened early on in the game. I picked this one just 'cause JJ had just joined us at this table and I saw the humour in it I guess.

Then I went on a sick run. I mean, my hands were absolutely craptastic! Which by the way, is a good thing in this game. I could not have been dealt any better RAZZ hands if I was dreaming. With hole and door cards like, [A-3]-5, [2-3]-A and [4-A]-2 all coming on a regular basis. I also changed my strategy in these situations repeatedly. Betting into some, allowing my opponent to make the first moves at times and also making a few check-raises here and there. I had made several hands to a 6-low by 5th. or 6th. streets and in all cases, the size of the pot was completely under my control. I was on a RAZZ rush and planned on riding it all the way to the top. It worked and it took exactly 44 minutes to get to here.

I was really feeling good about my play and felt like I had pretty good control over how I should play everyone at my table at the time. So naturally, I was moved. I continued on mixing things up and making a few adjustments as I went along but, I just played too many hands that were suspect, (but had potential) in a short period of time. That brought me down to around an average stack in a hurry. I better than most, understand the need for patience and focus in the STUD versions of poker, but I got carried away trying to "ride the rush," instead of actually playing my version of the game.

By the time we got down to final table, I was in about the 6th. or 8th. place chip stack position. My playable hands got farther and farther apart and the expected shift to all out aggression from my opponents, got understandably increased in the right situations. There was actually some great RAZZ play early on at final. To be honest, there was some pretty damn good play going on all night, with as Waffles said, "no one eliminated before the first break." That is a great rarity in the non-NLHE games we play to be sure.

So back to final table. I picked up a starter of [A-3]-5 and made my complete. Everyone folded. A little later I pick up [A-2]-6 and the exact same thing happens after I make a bet on top of the player completing. I get descent hands and over-agress others out of the pot. At first I was bit miffed when I couldn't get players with door cards of 2, 4 or even Aces to come along for the ride. But i figured my time would come. Then it happened. At a 9 handed table with the brings all the way up to $500, I draw 9 out of 10 brings at the table. $4500 of my stack gone and the best card I have in the door for RAZZ, is a 10. That hurts!

My demise came in the 9th. place money bubble-boy position, when I am dealt [A-4]-6 and feel the need to put pressure on the three other players interested in playing the hand. My thought was raise to isolate and take my chances against one player, rather than all three. It worked and I even got the worst of the door cards out of the deal. I make my hand with [A-4]-6-2-3 by 5th. street and can tell you with absolute certainty, I am now not going anywhere no matter what happens. So it's my [A-4]-6-2-3 up against x-x-8-9-4. G/L me !!! Uuuuuuh, Not so much. In the end I did not improve and had my [A-4]-6-2-3-J-K beat on on 7th. street by A-3-8-9-4-2-5. That my friends, is just how it goes. It was a game altering pot and we both knew it. I can't really blame such a large stack for playing that hand against the shorty at the table I guess. Only it would have definitely made me dangerous to the table, had I managed to hold on and more than double up in that situation. THAT's RAZZ !

It was a good night and I take nothing but the positives in my play away from the game on the whole. I'll be back and I'll throw my chips around with everyone again soon. But golf season seems to be starting for real around here, so the BBT3 games that I get to take a shot at, will be fewer and farther between I think. That'll make it pretty hard for me to improve my position in the standings I guess. But I will say, that I'm pretty damn proud to be holding 34th. spot on that huge list of bloggers playing in this series. I've still only been able to play in 16 games thus far and most above and below me on that list, are up into the 30's and even approaching 40 games played. With 16 games played and $160 something in earnings, what I've been able to do so far was basically a free-roll for me. You won't hear me complain about that at all.

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....