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At this point let me mention one of the few expert plays that can be made in razz poker. It comes up on sixth street under certain types of conditions.
First of all your opponent has to be the one who bets first even though his hand is not apparently as good. This would arise if his fourth card is lower than your fourth card or if you have a pair. As an example he may have
and you might have
Suppose now in this situation you think he has a ten made with a poker draw to a very good hand. You have a nine made with a draw either to an eight or a seven.
Furthermore, because of the way the hand was played it is conceivable that you could have a pair. Against many players the proper play is to check your hand right back to him after he has checked his hand.
In other words, he will check his ten made, afraid that you have a nine made but thinking there is a chance that you don’t, and now you check your nine made right back to him.
What you have accomplished by this is to make him think that you are only drawing to a nine and thus his ten is good so far. Now that you have put this idea into his mind, what will be his method of play on seventh poker street?
Most players will now look at their last card and if they don’t improve, check their ten and if they do improve come out betting. This, therefore, means that the continuation of your sixth street play will be to bet your nine if he checks even though you don’t improve and to fold if he bets.
The reason why playing poker hand this way is the superior way is that if you did bet your hand on sixth street, you first of all cannot be down the river when he checks because he may be checking a big hand and will probably not call you if he hasn’t improved.
Secondly, by playing your hand this way he will almost certainly call when you bet down the river since he has it in his mind that you are only drawing to a nine and now will pay you off with a ten hoping you missed.
If you wind up with a nine and he winds up with a ten you have made just as much money by playing it this way as by betting it on sixth street poker. However, suppose he winds up with a good hand.
By playing it this way you have saved two bets, or at least one bet, you will have saved the sixth street bet and will not call him on the end when he does bet.
The reason you can throw your hand away on the end if you have checked on sixth street is because the typical player would never dream of betting a ten on the end since he thinks it’s the best hand and he think he can check it.
Thus, by checking on sixth street and betting down the river if he checks to you save one or two bets if he does*.
(*Another reason to make this play is that he might be drawing dead on sixth and would certainly fold if you bet. Your check may now suck one saving last bet out of him.)
There are a few variations on this play that the reader should be able to develop for himself.
The key to it, however, is that your check on sixth street has fooled your opponent into thinking that he has the best hand and will keep him from trying to steal it on the end since he doesn’t think he has to.
In general, when you do appear to have the best hand on the board on sixth street you should give some consideration to playing your hand differently than what would appear to be obvious when you are up against a strong opponent.
When you are up against a weak opponent your play should be fairly straightforward. So if, for instance, you have an eight and he has a nine apparently made you should just bet.