Razz - Fifth Street Play
It is on fifth street that razz begins to resemble ‘real poker’. Up until this point most decisions are fairly automatic. If you had a decent three card hand on third street you called (or raised), and if you caught good on fourth you likely bet again. On fifth, however, the play of the hand begins to get complicated. This is because a mediocre made hand (like a rough nine) is actually a dog to a great draw, like a five cards to a wheel or four cards to a smooth six. As such, simply having the best hand at this point is often not enough reason to initiate the betting. Example: Say you have (8c 7c) 3h 5h 9d, and your opponent has the 2s 4c Jh showing. If he has two unpaired baby cards in the hole you are not a favorite to win the hand! This can also be true even if you have five cards to an eight (although here it would depend on exactly what cards are out). This is obviously an extreme example, but it does illustrate the fact that by the time you get to fifth street your advantage over your opponents is, often, tenuous at best. As a result, you should not be inclined to get into raising wars on fifth even when you ‘know’ you have the best hand, since it’s very likely that your opponent has a huge draw.
That having been said, you should almost always bet on fifth if your opponents are not too aggressive (meaning they likely won’t raise you) and your hand would be worth a call if one of your opponents bet. The reason for betting here is that you’re setting yourself up take down the pot on sixth street if you catch a good card and your opponent does not. This can even be true when you catch a terrible card on fifth that pairs your hand. Example: You have (As 4h) 8d 7c 4s, and your opponent is showing the 3h 8s 9h. Note that if your opponent has any card higher than an eight in the hole then any ‘bad’ card he catches on sixth street should convince him that he’s drawing dead. You are representing a made eight on fifth, so even if you catch a lousy card on sixth he will still (usually) think he has to beat an eight to win the pot. If you simply checked on fifth, however, he may rightfully conclude that the four paired you.
In sum, so long as your opponents are not too aggressive you should usually be playing your hands strongly on fifth street when you think you either have the best hand or can legitimately represent the best hand. Exceptions occur, though, against terrible players. In this case you should check some of your more marginal hands, since your chances of getting them to fold on sixth if you catch a ‘scare card’ are almost nil.
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