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What the Heck is a Razgu?22 April 2004
The term Razgu was coined by one of my Dad's Poker playing friends to refer to a really bad hand. Most often, it means a Video Poker hand, which is so bad, that there is nothing worth keeping. You are better off drawing 5 new cards than attempting to draw to anything in the hand. For example:
When you get a hand like this, you have a tendency to stare at it for a few seconds and try and figure what you have a shot at making. You start thinking about maybe holding the 3-Card Straight or perhaps the 3-Card Flush. Maybe even the 2-Card Straight Flush is your best play. By now, you probably know my response. Let's check the Expected Values (assuming a 9/6 Jacks or Better game):
From the table above, we know that the Razgu (draw 5) is our best option. Of course, if you look in a strategy table you won't see ANY of the other hands. If the Expected Value of a hand is BELOW that of a Razgu, then it simply won't appear on the table. You'll notice that the lowest playable hand above a Razgu is a 3-Card Double Inside Straight Flush with no High Cards. We NEVER (in JOB 9/6) play 3-Card Flushes, 3-Card Straights or 2-Card Straight Flushes. In Jacks or Better, you can expect a Razgu about once every 31 hands, on average. As we've shown in past columns, this doesn't mean you won't get 2 in a row, or go 50 or even 100 hands without having one. What can you expect from one when you do get one? Unfortunately, not much.
While you're better off choosing the Razgu over the other hands shown above,
the Razgu is still a very weak hand. It will prove to be a paying hand only
about 23% of the time, and more than 2/3 of these will be a High Pair. Once
in a great while you'll hit a Four of a Kind or a Full House, which contributes
greatly to what makes the Razgu more valuable than the 3-Card Straights and
Flushes. With the hand shown above, you can expect the following final hands:
Earlier, I said that 'most often' a Razgu is a bad hand. When is it a good hand? Unfortunately, not while playing Video Poker. Several years ago, my Dad and a friend invented a game that was called Action Poker. It had a trial run at a few different casinos, but never quite caught on. In this game, a Razgu was actually one of the top paying hands. Of course, the game was played with a Blackjack style shoe using six decks, so the combination of cards within a hand was quite intriguing. Last but not least, Razgu IS the name of a baseball team. It just so happens to be the name of my son's little league baseball team. Nowadays, it's the only time I root for a RAZGU! Recent Articles
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