Biography

Rob Barefoot's poker style embodies the "new breed" of a professional poker player — combining experience and intuition coupled with relentless aggression and subtle gear changes to keep his opponents guessing and in turn, maximizing his profit potential.

Having played poker for over 10 years Rob has garnered a reputation as a tough high-limit poker player specializing in all poker games from No-Limit (NL) Hold'em, Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit (PL) Omaha, Omaha 8-or-better (8/b), aka Omaha Hi-Lo to 7-Card Stud and competes in twelve or more high buy-in poker tournaments each year and has earned the respect and friendship of fellow touring professional poker players.

Rob has been featured on Sky Sports, Sky Poker, Challenge TV and in many online publications. Rob Barefoot has parlayed his success at poker into an affiliation with online poker site JamJuicePoker.com. In addition, Rob can be viewed daily in tournaments on Full Tilt Poker currently undertaking his "zero to hero" challenge for charity under the screen names of "Boston Barefoot", "biggsroco" or "Jam Juice Poker".

Known for his aggressive, unpredictable style of play, Rob is regarded as a poster boy for a new generation of online players. Playing a very aggressive, wide-open, pedal-to-the-metal kind of poker, he likes to put a lot of pressure on his opponents and really puts them to the decision. His propensity to 'trash-talk' combined with timed aggression makes him an extremely dangerous player.

Razz - Something a little different!

Although the title of this blog is "Barefoots Holdem" strangely Holdem isn't my favourite form of poker! No-Limit Holdem forms the vast majority of my tournament play, however you won't catch me in an online ring game for love nor money! One of the games that I do play regularly at the cash tables is Razz. So I thought I'd bring a few of you guys who've never played Razz before, up to speed with a little strategy...

Razz, also called 7 card stud low, gained incredible popularity during the 2004 World Series of Poker. The object of the game is interesting enough. Whoever makes the worst hand wins! Most pro players will tell you that Razz can be one of the most frustrating poker games. Like all the popular poker games, it is certainly worth learning and becoming proficient at, especially if you enjoy HORSE Tournaments and ring games. Let's look at some basic rules and strategy to help you win at the tables.

Razz Poker Rules

Razz is an ante game. Everyone is required to put in their ante before the cards are dealt. After the cards are dealt, Razz plays very much like 7 Card Stud with a few important differences.

In Razz, the highest up card on third street has to make the forced bring in bet. This starts the action. On all subsequent rounds, the lowest hand showing acts first. If there is a tie for low hand showing, the first active player clockwise from the dealer begins the round's action. Another difference is the fact that if a player pairs his door card, there is no double bet option like there would be in standard 7 card stud.

The lowest hand wins the pot at showdown. Aces count as low and flushes and straights are ignored. This means the best five card hand in Razz is Ace,2,3,4,5. Figuring out the best low hand is simple enough. Start with the top card and work down. An eight low beats a nine low for example. If the top card is the same rank, then you move to the second card. 86543 beats 87543. One player has an eight-six low and the losing player has eight-seven.

Razz Poker Strategy and Tips

Razz is a game of patience. It is important to play tight, yet attempt well timed ante steals when the chance presents itself.

Razz starting hands are easy to remember. If you have three cards between Ace and five, you have a great starting hand. A23 is the best starting hand, but any three cards between Ace and five (no pairs of course!) is a hand to bet and raise with on third street. Three card starting hands between Ace and six are good starting hands and should be played aggressively as well, but with a little more caution if several other players with lower door cards are ramping up the action. Three cards of seven or lower is a good starting hand that you'll want to see 4th street with, even if you have to call a bet or two to do so. A three card eight is becoming marginal. If you can limp in or steal the antes with it, do so. Playing three card eights routinely will cost you chips in the long run.

The other players' up cards. This is a very important aspect to razz strategy. Observant Razz players will view the upcards and tend to have a much better idea of their relative hand strength. Sometimes the up cards will tell you exactly what to do. If you have three cards to a nine low and there are no other up cards lower than a nine, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have the best hand on third street and can bet and raise, even though a "nine low" isn't typically a hand that you would play. You should continue to keep an eye on the other players' porches as the hand progresses. Even if you catch low cards that pair your hole cards, if the other players are catching bad high cards, you can still usually win the pot by betting aggressively.

Live and Dead Cards. This is an important aspect of 7 card stud. While in that game, you are wanting your cards to be "live", in Razz you prefer them to be "dead." For example, if you hold Ace, 3, 6 to start and you see two other threes, a six and an ace, you can feel even better about your hand because it means there is less of a chance that you will make pairs! Catching pairs can kill a great starting Razz hand, so the more dead cards you see the better.

Jamming vs. Slow Playing: Razz is not really a slow playing game. There are exceptions of course, but generally speaking if you have a good hand, you want to jam it. One reason is that by jamming it, you generally create a big enough pot on third street that it allows you to call on fourth street even if you catch a bad card, based on the size of the overall pot. You can get right back on track with another good low card on fifth street. By all means, do your best to use overly loose and aggressive players weaknesses against them, but you won't go wrong by just betting and raising when you have the best of it.

Best Draw vs. Made 9 Low after five cards. A interesting feature of Razz is the little known fact that after five cards are dealt, the best drawing hand is a favorite over any made nine low. In most forms of poker the made hand usually leads the betting to make the draw hands pay, but in Razz, the opposite is true on fifth street. Things are back to normal on 6th street however. With one card to come, the made nine low is now a favorite over the best draw and should definitely lead the betting.

Knowing when to fold 'em. If you make a habit of starting with sub par hands or drawing with weak hands vs. powerful boards and stronger draws, then you will just be leaking chips and blowing your bankroll. As with other poker variations, if it looks like you are beat, you probably are. Save your money for when you have the best hand and then play aggressively. Especially in low limit games, players tend to have the hands they represent, so don't pay off three or four more bets to "keep them honest"! When good hands turn bad, release them. Patience!

Stealing the Antes. Ante stealing is important, especially the higher up you go in limits. Several situations are great for ante stealing attempts. First, if the bring in player is immediately to your left and it is folded up to you, you should always complete the bet to steal the bring and antes. You do not have to be successful every time for this to be a profitable play. Another good stealing shot to take is when you are the lowest up card. You'd prefer to have reasonable cards in the hole, but this steal attempt is not unlike completing with an Ace door card in 7 card stud, representing aces. You can also attempt to steal with second highest up card if it is folded up to you in late position. Don't get carried away here. Stealing becomes less effective and less profitable the lower the limits you are playing. Always be willing to let go of a steal attempt if another player plays back at you!

Barefoot's Holdem

Barefoot's Holdem

Rob Barefoot's poker style embodies the "new breed" of a professional poker player — combining experience and intuition coupled with relentless aggression and subtle gear changes to keep his opponents guessing and in turn, maximizing his profit potential.

Having played poker for over 10 years Rob has garnered a reputation as a tough high-limit poker player specializing in all poker games from No-Limit (NL) Hold'em, Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit (PL) Omaha, Omaha 8-or-better (8/b), aka Omaha Hi-Lo to 7-Card Stud and competes in twelve or more high buy-in poker tournaments each year and has earned the respect and friendship of fellow touring professional poker players.

Rob Barefoot has been featured on Sky Sports, Sky Poker, Challenge TV and in many online publications. Rob Barefoot has parlayed his success at poker into an affiliation with online poker site JamJuicePoker.com. In addition, Rob can can be viewed daily in tournaments on Full Tilt Poker currently undertaking his "Zero to Hero" challenge for charity under the screen names of "Boston Barefoot", "biggsroco" or "Jam Juice Poker".

Known for his aggressive, unpredictable style of play, Rob Barefoot is regarded as a poster boy for a new generation of online players. Rob plays a very aggressive, wide-open, pedal-to-the-metal kind of poker. He likes to put a lot of pressure on his opponents and really puts them to the decision. Rob Barefoot's propensity to trash-talk combined with timed-aggression makes him an extremely dangerous player.

Feeling Charitable? - The Jam Juice Poker.com Zero to Hero challenge...

CURRENT TOTAL $11.00

Unless have been burying your head in the sand in the poker desert for the last year or so - many of you will have heard of Chris "Jesus" Ferguson's challenge on Full Tilt Poker. Chris has won over $10,000 for charity starting with a bankroll of just $0...

Well with the help of my sponsor jamjuicepoker.com and in association with Full Tilt - I have undertaken a similar challenge. On 29th October 2007, I'll start playing freerolls with a target of £2,000 by New Years Eve 2007. Whatever I raise, the very generous guys at Jam Juice will double! The only difference between my challenge and Chris' is that I will also be allowed to accept player donations.

So lets talk about why I'm doing it...

In March 2008 some friends of mine will be taking part in the 12-day “Eden trek” through Costa Rica. This coast-to-coast challenge will involve them traveling from the Pacific to the Caribbean coast on foot and raft!! Their route will take them through coffee plantations and into dense tropical rain forest. They will also have the rare opportunity to work within one of the local communities.

Leading them in this challenge will be Tony Hadley, former singer of Spandau Ballet and star of the West End hit Chicago, Martin Fry (ABC) and Richard Drummie (Go West)

All of the money raised will be given to the charity Action Medical Research who have organised this and other challenge events:

~Around 70,000 babies in the UK each year - that’s over 10 per cent - require some sort of special care when they are born. ~

~Tragically, over 3,000 babies die within the first year, and premature birth is the single biggest cause.

Action Medical Research are working towards life-saving research programmes to help find answers to premature birth and other life-threatening pregnancy complications.

As I am sure you will agree this is a truly worth - while cause and we thank you in advance for your kind contributions and support. If you have a Full Tilt poker account and you would like to donate to the cause, transfer your donation to username: Jam Juice Poker. If you would like to contribute by another payment method please visit; http://www.action.org.uk/~sarahsally1

Tournaments

Gallery pictures coming soon. If you have any of Rob that you'd like to submit, then please Email them to: support@jamjuicepoker.com, quoting "Barefoot's Holdem" in the subject line.

"Should I quit my job and play professionally?"

I get these questions all the time and I always give the same answer: "Unequivocally, absolutely not. No way."

Clear enough?

If you want to explore being a professional poker player, you have to start out doing it part time. Spend your off hours thinking about poker and studying the game. Read and play and learn.

Before you even think about quitting your job to play full time, you should be making more money at poker than you are in your current employment. Don't think that one big tournament win provides all the evidence you need that you're ready to play professionally. You should be showing consistent profit over a period of at least six- months. Only at that point should you even entertain the idea of becoming a full-time pro.

Even then, you should be wary about taking such a step. Poker is a great pastime, and playing it casually is a lot of fun when you love the game. But when you become a pro, you have to play poker five or six days a week. In time, playing cards will start to feel a lot like a job. I happen to love every occasion I get to play, but for many people, it can become a grind.

On the tournament circuit, you can play well and still go months - or even years - without a big result. In ring games, the hours can be brutal. When you're a pro, you want to be playing when the other players are off their game. This means you should start late, when people are getting tired and gambling a little more than they should. So you might play from 11PM through the morning, and sleep most of the afternoon. Keeping these kinds of hours can be difficult for those who want to maintain a more traditional social life.

Another risk is that you may not play enough. It can take a lot of self-discipline to put in enough hours at the table. With no boss on your tail, you might find it tough to put in the hours that you need at the times that are most profitable.

Before you make drastic changes to your life - before you even ask the questions posed at the start of this article - you should know that poker will work for you. You should have long, profitable periods that serve as evidence of your abilities. You should have put in enough hours to know that you can really enjoy the game, even when it becomes the center of your professional life. You should know that you can endure some long, tough, unlucky stretches.

If you're really sure you've got what it takes and poker does become your career, I look forward to meeting you at the table.

Rob Barefoot