An Epic Razz Hand

Had been at this particular H.O.R.S.E. table for a while. Probably 70-80 hands or so. Had sat down with twenty clams and had chipped up to $26.20 when the following Razz hand took place. Even if yr not a big Razz fan, take a look at this one. It’s worth it, I promise.

The table had been on the passive side, without much raising/reraising on third street in the stud games. So when I picked up 2-6-3 with the trey showing, I looked forward to raising it up. Glancing around the table at everyone else’s upcards, I noticed one other trey, two fours, two eights, and two queens. That’s right. Everyone’s upcards were duplicated. Shoulda known then this was going to be a strange one.

One of the queens brought in the quarter. Then the other Q surprisingly called. Then one of the fours completed to fifty cents. I raised to a buck, and the other trey made it $1.50. The original bettor capped it, and in the end there were four of us left to see the flop: yr humble servant, the other 3, a 4, and a hard-headed Q. Pot already $8.65.

Fourth street looked as though it might have been favorable to everyone.

*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to PhyllisN [3d] [4h]
Dealt to Nirdlinger [Qd] [5s]
Dealt to WalterHuff [4s] [3h]
Dealt to Short-Stacked Shamus [2s 6c 3c] [As]

I have the lead with my ace, and so bet the half dollar. Phyllis makes it a dollar with her 3-4. (Probably believes I paired up, I remember thinking fleetingly.) Nirdlinger calls the two bets. Then WalterHuff makes it $1.50 with his 4-3. I call the three bets, as do Phyllis and Nirdlinger. Pot now $14.65.

*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to PhyllisN [3d 4h] [Kh]
Dealt to Nirdlinger [Qd 5s] [Js]
Dealt to WalterHuff [4s 3h] [Qh]
Dealt to Short-Stacked Shamus [2s 6c 3c As] [Ts]

Enough bricks to build a shed. Could have seen that coming, actually, as most of the baby cards have already been dealt. I’m technically leading at the moment, though, and so I bet out again. Everyone calls my dollar. Pot is now $18.65, easily the biggest pot of the session. Much like the previous streets, sixth street was also essentially the same for all of us.

*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to PhyllisN [3d 4h Kh] [9c]
Dealt to Nirdlinger [Qd 5s Js] [Td]
Dealt to WalterHuff [4s 3h Qh] [9d]
Dealt to Short-Stacked Shamus [2s 6c 3c As Ts] [9s]

Nothing has changed, really, although I do see I could now be behind. I bet my 9-6, Phyllis and Nirdlinger both call. (That’s right, with his Q-J-T showing and all that action, Nirdlinger is sticking around.) Then WalterHuff raises to $2. Looking back, I can see now it is pretty clear that Walter must have had an ace, deuce, or five in the hole, and thus was surely ahead of me. At the time, I didn’t really think about that, though, and so three-bet it. Two calls, Walter caps it, and we all call again. (Incidentally, Nirdlinger runs out of chips on the fourth bet here.) “HUGE pot" types a player not involved. Huge is right. The pot is now a whopping $34.50.

As I await 7th street, I’m consciously thinking that if I happen to catch a four, five, or seven, there’s a decent chance I’m going to be good here. I know the fours are about gone (I’ve seen three of them). Have only seen one five, though, and no sevens. Of course, the pot is so friggin’ big, I’m probably not folding no matter what comes on seventh. Here it comes . . . .

I get a seven. Sweet. I’ve made a 7-6-3-2-A. And all that money in the middle. I like it. I bet.

And Phyllis raises. Walter Huff just calls the two bets. I like Walter just calling, as he was my primary concern. I three-bet. Phyllis just calls. NICE! Walter just calls, too. The final pot is $43.50. (Fifty cents will be taken for the rake.)

What does everyone have . . . ?

Short-Stacked Shamus: shows [2s 6c 3c As Ts 9s 7h] (Lo: 7,6,3,2,A)
PhyllisN: shows [Ah 5c 3d 4h Kh 9c 7c] (Lo: 7,5,4,3,A)
WalterHuff: shows [Ad 2h 4s 3h Qh 9d 7d] (Lo: 7,4,3,2,A)
WalterHuff collected $9.45 from side pot
Nirdlinger: mucks hand [4d 2c Qd 5s Js Td 5h]
WalterHuff collected $9.45 from side pot
WalterHuff collected $33.55 from main pot

All three of us caught sevens on seventh street. (Stars does not reorder the cards as Full Tilt does, so we can be sure of the order of things.) Not only did I not win the hand, I was third-best! (Hell, I was third-best on sixth street, too!) In fact, if you look at our relative levels of confidence there on seventh, the poor sap with the third-best hand (me) acted with the most confidence, followed by the second-best hand (PhyllisN), followed by the winner (WalterHuff).

Looking back over the entire hand, it was almost as though each of us (aside from crazy Nirdlinger, that is) had been dealt essentially the same cards on each street. I believe it is a general truism of all forms of poker that whenever players get dealt hands of equal value, action tends to increase. Here we had three of us getting pretty much the same cards every step of the way. (Plus a goofball fourth who couldn’t bring himself to leave the party.)

I’d lost a total $11.50 on the hand, so my six-dollar profit for the session had instantly become a six-dollar deficit. Wasn’t too upset, though. In fact, I kind of enjoyed it when the entire table began chatting amiably about the marvel we’d just witnessed.

Don’t imagine any of us will be seeing any 43-big bet pots again anytime soon.