Pokerwebpages.com → Pokertricks
This would most likely happen if you have a decent three-card hand but many of your cards are out. So, for instance, if you had
and there were two 4s and an ace gone you would have a fairly weak hand. However, if you happened to catch a good one, especially a 4 or an ace on fourth poker street, your hand would now be quite good.
This is the type of hand with which you would like to be able to see Fourth Street cheaply and since you are known to slowplay extremely good hands in early position you might stop players from raising when you do, in fact, limp in with a weak hand.
Another time you would usually limp in with a decent hand in early position would be if you had a good three-card eight with the right cards out and the 8 was showing.
If there are two or more low cards behind you, in any poker games, it isn’t that good to raise against aggressive poker players who are capable or reraising you. But then again, it’s not that bad either.
In early position, if there are many low cards behind you, you need a good hand to play. Three-card eights should usually be thrown away, especially in a $15–$30 game. If the 8 isn’t showing and the decision is close, the decision is whether to fold or raise.
In other words, if you have a three-card eight where you would not play if you knew one of the low cards behind you would also play it might still be worth raising because of the extra possibility that you can steal the ante even though that is a slim possibility.
This, of course, is another application of the semi-bluffing. Seventy percent of the time you will be playing a hand that you don’t particularly want to play but 30 percent of the time you will win the ante. Calling with these hands is usually a bad play.
A raise can even be correct with a good three-card nine if the 9 is not showing. However, if you think there is no chance you can steal the antes you are better off folding.
The same is true for all three-card eight-sevens. As people fold, if you are next to play your hands, you are in a similar situation to being under the gun.
In other words, as long as no one has yet played, your strategy depends on your hand and the number of low cards yet to act and your strategy is analogous to the under-the-gun strategy that we just outlined.
Suppose someone has already raised the pot. The general concept which I have stressed is that a hand that can call a raise must be even better than one that can raise itself.
This is because when you are raising before anybody else has played you have the extra chances of poker winning. Once someone else has raised that possibility is no longer there.
Thus, if a player has already raised, especially in early position where it is impossible that he is stealing or semi-stealing you very simply need to have a hand.
However, interesting enough in razz poker your hand does not have to be as good as the raiser’s hand. It can be almost as good because of the price you are getting from the initial bring-in and the antes.
In the $15–$30 game, you are getting 28-to-15 odds. In the $30–$60 game, you are getting 70-to-30 odds. Thus, you can play slightly more hands in the $30–$60 game in this situation.
Most three-card sevens can be played unless the cards exposed are very disadvantageous to you. Three-card eights can usually be played, especially if the 8 is in the hole.
Almost never play a three-card nine for a cold raise. If you were the initial raiser and have gotten reraised, you may have to play it. This is a different situation, however, since there is already quite a bit of money in the pot.