Barry Greenstein(credit: Poker After Dark)
Razz is one of our favorite games, but we often feel so alone in that assessment. The low variant of stud in which the wheel is the nut hand requires you to observe the cards that your opponents are holding and…that you know how to count backwards. For example, a hand of 8,5,4,3,2 will beat an 8,7,6,3,A any day but most players think the ace beats all.
Perhaps that’s just one of the reasons why players get so frustrated with the game. Of course, we’re getting off the topic again. On September 9, 2008, 1,288 players – which we consider to be quite the respectable number – signed on to play at the tenth event of the 2008 World Championships of Online Poker. This Razz event beat its own guarantee, generating a total prize pool of $267,000. Joining in on the action were Barry Greenstein and Katja Thater. Both of these PokerStars pros have WSOP bracelets in Razz. Unfortunately, neither made the final table.
However, Scott “scottyno” Novak, who took down the Razz event at the FTOPS VII back on Valentine’s Day 2008, did. He earned $4,894 for his sixth place finish at the WCOOP this year, proving that he’s a true force to be reckoned with in any Razz game.
As the play got down to three-handed, SunTzu7076, oneftwons and dinho_style talked chop, but couldn’t agree on a deal. Soon after, SunTzu7076 waged his last battle, leaving dinho_style with nearly a three-to-one chip advantage over oneftwons. In the end, dinho won the day (night, or early morning depending upon where you live in the world), more than $43,000 and the coveted WCOOP bracelet.
These are the Razz results:
1) dinho_style — $43,096
2) oneftwons — $24,858
3) SunTzu7076 — $16,744
4) txopt — $10,948
5) likomaboy — $5,796
6) scottyno — $4,894
7) bad_beat_bud — $3,993
8) Raoeoiku — $3,220
You can show the world your RAZZ hands at PokerStars. They have a ton of tournaments, ring games and even play money tables for you to learn this frustrating (for some) but potentially profitable game. Go to PokerStars now for some Razz practice!