Hold'em? What's Hold'em?

It's Friday; must be time for another post! It's amazing how quickly a week can pass, and a little disquieting that I've only managed to play a couple of poker sessions. One of them was quite fun, however. Yes, it was a freeroll, and it was Razz, of all things. Yes, there were over 4000 entrants, and the top 88 paid out exactly the same, with an entry into a round 2 freeroll. But I just had to see how far I could go, and the answer was 2nd:



I had to leave the house when we were heads up and I had fought back from a 4-1 chip disadvantage to a 4-1 chip lead. The last half hour of the tournament consisted of me auto-folding to 2nd, for which I apologize to my opponent. Razz is likely my favorite part of the HORSE rotation (although Stud High/Low and Omaha 8-or-better are in a close tie for second), and it proved to be a good choice in which to try for one of the round 2 freeroll tickets. The initial play is horrid, of course; very few of the freeroll players have much experience playing Razz. It's enough to sit back and wait for a good starting hand, and then pump in as many chips as you can while your optimistic opponents draw while showing QJx. If you have the chance to play Razz against the standard poker player, I recommend it, as ABC poker will give you a big edge. The beats will be brutal when they happen, but get past the variance and I think it is a literal goldmine.

Another variation that I've been toying around with this past week is 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. I believe that the coverage of the 2007 WSOP had a brief look at this game, which is often considered to be akin to self-mutilation. There isn't a lot of game selection, and since I'm only playing with spending dollars at Poker Stars right now, and at the lower limits, I usually only have one table to play at (sometimes two, if there is a glut of players about). The variance can be high, as with any drawing game, but if you watch the players around you, it can be quite easy to find one or two who are more than willing to draw two cards against your pat hand on the third draw, and pay you off at the end with their J-high or their pair of deuces. I'm not saying that it's never correct to call on the end with such a hand, but I wouldn't recommend doing it against someone who was pat after two draws.

So, that's the state of the union for this week; the next week isn't likely to leave much time for poker either, but I'll write when I can and keep you appraised of the latest and greatest!