Razz Poker is a Stud based game that uses the same structure and most of the same rules as 7-card Stud hi, but instead of shooting for the best hi 5-card poker hand players are actually trying to obtain the best 5-card low poker hand with Ace thru 5, otherwise known as a wheel or bike, being the best. There's also some detailed strategy advice as well. Our guide to playing Razz includes all the rules of how to play the game. There's also some detailed strategy advice as well. Starting Hands. Your starting hand in razz goes a long way toward your chances to win any single hand. If you only stay in the pot with. Official Razz poker rules at PokerNews. Learn how to play and win razz poker, we cover for you the basic rules and offer some of the bets strategy tips to play this poker variation.
Razz Poker is a variety of 7-card stud that has become one of the more popular poker variants that exists. As opposed to most traditional poker games, which see the person with the highest-ranking cards win the showdown, razz sees the person with the lowest-ranking hand win the pot.
Razz poker rules are steadily gaining in popularity and have a colorful and storied history. Razz is basically seven card stud low. If you know how to play stud rules, learning how to play Razz should be relatively easy for you. If you’ve ever wondered what Razz Poker is all about, you’re in the right place. Today, razz can be found in many online poker rooms, and even some casinos have razz tables. Rules for Playing Razz Poker. Razz can accommodate up to six players, but as few as two can play at a time. Razz is a poker game for 2 to 8 players, using a standard 52-card deck and is one of the more interesting poker variants, based on the rules of Stud Poker, but with very different requirements for winning. In 7 Card Stud, like most poker games, the highest ranking hand wins the pot.
This game is, in many ways, similar to Omaha hi/lo and Texas Hold’em, but differs slightly when it comes to determining the winning hand and the way in which cards are dealt. The biggest difference is the fact that all players in a game of razz are dealt 7 cards, which is more than the 4 dealt in Omaha and the 2 dealt in Hold’em. With these 7 cards, players are asked to put together the best possible 5-card low combination.
Razz utilizes the California system for ranking low hands, which means that straights and flushes do not count against a hand and that the Ace is always the low card. Understanding this, it should be made clear that the best possible hand in razz is 5, 4, 3, 2, A.
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[toctablerow id=”rules”]Game Rules[/toctablerow]
[toctablerow id=”tips”]Tips[/toctablerow] [toctablerow id=”history”]History[/toctablerow] [toctable][/toctable] Gameplay – Razz Rules
Right from the offing, the game of razz differs from most other poker variants because it forces all players at the table to ante (place a forced bet before receiving any cards). In other forms of poker, the big and small blinds are the only forced bets. Once everyone has offered up their ante, players are dealt 3 hole cards. 2 of the hole cards will be placed in front of the player face-down, while the remaining 3rd card will be face-up.
The player who holds the highest-ranking face-up hole card is determined to be the “bring-in”, and is the person who begins the betting action. The size of this bet depends on the type of game you are playing. If you are playing a $5/$10 game of razz, a player can opt to be the full low amount or, in this case, $5. Once everyone has had a chance to either bet or fold, all remaining active players are dealt a 4th hole card, known as the 4th street. Like 1/3 of your first three hole cards, the 4th street is dealt to player face-up.
Once everyone has received their 4th card, the person with the lowest-ranking exposed hand is tasked with beginning the betting action. At this juncture, the person who is set to place a wager can either place a bet or check, passing the action to the next person. If a bet is made, it will be the small bet. Continuing the previous example, the wager would be $5.
After this round of betting, active players are then awarded their 5th hole card face-up; this card is known as the 5th street. As it was in the previous round, the person whose hand is the strongest (lowest) is who begins the betting action. For example, if there are only 2 remaining players and one of them has a 7-high hand and the other has a hand consisting of a pair of 8s and a Q, the person with 7-high would commence betting. At this juncture, any bets or raises made would have to be of the higher increment. Continuing the running example, any wager made in a $5/$10 game would have to be in increments of $10.
Finally, after this round of betting, each player is awarded a 4th face-up card, known as the 6th street. Just as it was following the 5th street, betting begins with the person who boasts the strongest face-up hand.
The 7th street, or river, is given out next, and yet one more round of betting begins. The 7th street is dealt face-down and is known only to the player whom it is given to. One final round of betting takes place and, if any players remain, the showdown is reached and players reveal their best possible 5-card hands.
Other Rules Worth Knowing
In razz, there are a few situations that may be confusing if you do not take the time to learn the game’s finer details. With regard to the initial bring-in, which is determined by the person with the highest-ranking face-up card, a tie is broken by the card’s suit. Suit rankings as it relates to the bring-in are as follows, from strongest to weakest: spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. So, for example, if one player possesses the [card KH], and the other player holds the [card KC], and King is the highest showing card, the player holding the [card KH] will be awarded the bring-in.
If, during the 3rd street round, a player’s ante forces them all in, the bring-in bet will move clockwise to the next active player regardless of the ranking of his or her high card.
Because razz is played with up to 8 players, there exists a small likelihood that a round will reach the 7th street without enough cards to be dealt to everyone still playing. In this instance, one face-up community card will be laid on the table for players who have not received a 7th street to share.
Razz Poker: A Brief History
As is the case with most poker games, razz was nothing more than a byproduct of the still-popular 7 card stud game. Being that razz would not exist without 7 card stud, it is only right that we talk about razz’s history as it relates to its parent variant.
Though the exact date of razz’s origins are not agreed upon, 1971 is the year razz became well-known by players around the world thanks to it making an appearance at the World Series of Poker. Initially, razz was a hit amongst 7 card stud players who gravitated towards the new game due to its striking similarities to the aforementioned game.
When online poker became increasingly common in the 1990s, razz was often overlooked by sites who instead opted to only offer the most popular forms of poker, such as Hold’em and Omaha. By the time the early 2000s rolled around, however, razz was being seen added to online casinos rapidly. Still, even to this day razz is overlooked by many online sites because it is not regarded as one of the most popular poker variants. With each passing year, that much seems to change though.
Table Of ContentsIntroduction
Razz poker variation (sometimes referred to as “seven-card razz”) is a stud variant first made popular several decades ago alongside other “lowball” games. Its popularity waned somewhat during the 1990s and early 2000s, but the rise of mixed games and H.O.R.S.E. (of which razz is the “R” variant) helped reintroduce the game to a new generation.
Razz can be played with two to eight players. Like seven-card stud, it does not involve a flop (like hold’em or Omaha) nor any community cards. Unlike seven-card stud, the object in razz is to make the lowest possible five-card poker hand out of the seven cards.
Game Play
Game play for razz is very similar to that of seven-card stud. To begin each player is dealt the first two cards face down and a third facing up. As in stud, this first deal and the betting round that follows it is commonly referred to as “third street,” with each subsequent deal/betting round referred to similarly (“fourth street,” etc. through “seventh street”). The two down cards are referred to as “hole cards” with the third card facing up called the “door card.”
As in seven-card stud, in razz a player will decide on the basis of these first three cards whether or not to continue in the hand, with starting hand selection again being a key element of the game’s strategy.
Each player who doesn’t fold prior to seventh street eventually will be dealt a total of seven cards — the first two down and one up, then three more up, then the last card down. From these seven cards the player has to make the best possible five-card combination, only instead of making a high hand the player is trying to make the lowest possible hand with the ace always counting as the lowest ranking card.
Flushes and straights don’t count in razz, meaning the best possible razz hand is 5x4x3x2xAx with suits being entirely inconsequential. The second best hand is 6x4x3x2xAx, the third best is 6x5x3x2xAx, and so forth following the same procedure used for ranking low hands in other “lowball” or split-pot games.
Also there is no “eight-or-better” qualifier in razz — the lowest hand at showdown wins, regardless how low it is.
Antes, bring-in and betting
As in seven-card stud, antes and bring-in bets are employed in razz in order to stimulate action. We’ll use the example of a $10/$20 razz game with an ante of $1 and a bring-in of $5. (Like most stud games, razz is most typically played as a fixed-limit betting game.)
Each player wanting to be dealt in to receive a hand would have to post the $1 ante, creating a pot worth competing for. The first three cards are then dealt to each player before it is determined that one player must post the bring-in. Whereas in seven-card stud the player with the lowest-ranking door card must post the $5 bring-in, in razz it’s the opposite — the player with the highest door card must pay the bring-in, with the Kx being the highest-ranking card in the game.
If multiple players have a king showing on third street, this becomes the only instance in razz where suits matter, with the player having the highest ranking king being the one forced to post the bring-in according to the following ranking: K♠ (highest), K♥ (next highest), K♦ (third highest), and K♣ (lowest).
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As in seven-card stud, the player posting the bring-in has an option to “complete” the bet to $10 (the small limit of the game). From there betting clockwise around the table, with each player having the option to call, raise, or fold. Once the betting is complete, every player left in the hand is dealt a fourth card (i.e., “fourth street”).
In seven-card stud, the first player to act from fourth street on is the player displaying the highest-ranking hand. Meanwhile in razz the first player to act on fourth street and on subsequent rounds is the one with the lowest hand showing.
Razz Poker Rules & Starting Hands Lyrics
In a $10/$20 razz game, the limits of betting on third and fourth street would be the smaller limit, or $10, then on fifth, sixth and seventh streets the limits would increase to $20.
11 rows Straight. A straight is a poker hand containing five cards of sequential rank, not all of the same suit, such as 7♣ 6♠ 5♠ 4♥ 3♥ (a 'seven-high straight'). It ranks below a flush and above three of a kind. As part of a straight, an ace can rank either above a. If a straight of red hearts = Straight Flush, then the only hand that would beat it is a straight flush that is higher, such as a Royal Flush. Otherwise, that hand is pretty much unbeatable.
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The best starting hand in razz, then, would be Ax2x3x. Often in full-ring razz games (i.e., with eight players), experienced razz players will fold three-card starting hands containing any card higher than an 8x. Also worth noting — pairs count in razz, making hands undesirably higher. That means any starting hand that has a pair is a bad one, and that pairing up on subsequent rounds is also detrimental to players making strong razz hands.
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That said, it will often happen that a table might fold around to the player sitting to the left of the one who was forced to post the bring-in with a high card showing. In that case, a player will want to complete the bet with what will necessarily be a lower door card showing, a move which will often win the antes and bring-in.
Say a player showing the Q♦ posts the bring-in and it folds around to the last player who has K♠J♥ in the hole and the 7♥ showing. That player should complete even with those face cards in the hole, because the player with the queen showing will very likely be unable to call and continue in the hand. Stealing the antes and bring-ins is a key component of solid razz strategy.
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From there razz strategy involves understanding when it is worth continuing to draw to a strong low hand as well as keeping track of opponent’s up cards to know which cards have been used and which remain as “outs” with which to complete a hand. Sometimes even a good starting hand like 7x3x2x becomes less attractive if several fours, fives, and sixes are showing up as other players’ up cards, thus making it harder for you to draw to that 7-low.
In razz players with low cards showing as their up cards often will be aggressive with their betting and raising, although sometimes it can be correct to bet and raise with an especially strong draw that is concealed by the fact that your lower cards are face down.
Razz Hands
It is possible sometimes in razz to have a “lock” on a hand where you know with certainty your opponent cannot draw to a better hand than yours. Say on sixth street you have 4♦2♥ / 3♣A♠K♥6♠ and you see your opponent with XxXx / 5♣6♠J♦7♣. You know that whatever card your opponent ends up drawing on seventh street, the very best that player can make will be 6-5-3-2-A, a hand you already have beaten with your current 6-4-3-2-A.
Razz Poker GameConclusionPoker Razz
While not everyone finds razz the most exciting poker variant, it is a favorite game among many, and definitely worth learning how to play. Often in H.O.R.S.E. games razz is one of the lesser known variants in the mix, meaning just a little bit of study can make you considerably better at the game than your opponents, thus potentially making the razz round a profitable one for you.
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