intrudisacorpon.netlify.com

Razz is very similar to Seven Card Stud Hi Lo with a couple of exceptions. The player with the lowest hand wins the pot and there are no qualifying rules for the lowest hand so any hand is eligible.

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.

Each player will receive two cards face down and one card face up and the action will begin. In Razz there is no dealer button. That means that every hand starts with the dealer dealing to the 1 Seat first and continuing to the left. Every proceeding street will continue in the same fashion. ROOKIE RAZZ (Kindergarten – 2nd Grade) games are on Friday Only. Games start on Friday morning. Click the following to preview & print the ROOKIE RAZZ Rules & Regulations: 2019 K-2nd Grade Rookie Razz Rules. Click the following to preview & print the Rules & Regulations for grades 3-Adult: 2019 3rd Grade-Adult Rules.

In 7 Card Stud, like most poker games, the highest ranking hand wins the pot. In Razz, however, it is just the opposite – the lowest hand wins the pot.

Razz can be played in Fixed Limit, No Limit and Pot Limit; however Fixed Limit is the most common option and that’s what I’ll be focusing on in this guide.

Object of Razz Poker

The object of Razz is simple – to use any 5 out of the 7 cards dealt to you throughout the hand to create the lowest ranking 5 card poker hand.

As always in stud poker 3 cards are dealt face down so only the player can see them and the other 4 cards are dealt face up so everybody can see them.

Unlike Stud Hi Low, which requires a low hand to “Qualify” as 8 or better (nothing better than 8-high), there is no restriction for a qualifying hand in Razz, therefore any hand qualifies. You simply must develop the absolute lowest hand to win.

The lowest possible hand would be A-2-3-4-5. How is this low, you ask? It’s got an Ace, and by the way, it’s a Straight! Actually, in any “Low” version of poker, Aces are always counted as the number 1, the lowest card, whilst Straight and Flushes aren’t considered combinations and hence are ignored.

Fixed Limit Poker – How to Bet

Razz is almost always played with a Fixed Limit betting structure, although you may come across a No Limit or Pot Limit game on occasion.

Fixed Limit means that no player may wager more or less than the stakes of the game; $2/$4 for example.

Fixed Limit means a player must place all Bets or Raises in a pre-determined increment which is related to the stakes of the table, for example at a $2 / $4 table.

• For the first two betting rounds (3rd and 4th Street), bets must be in increments of the low-end stakes of $2. Bet $2 -> Raise $4 -> Re-Raise $6 etc.
• The final three betting rounds (5th, 6th and 7th Street) require bets / raises in increments of the high-end stakes of $4. Bet $4 -> Raise $8 -> Re-Raise $12 etc.

There are a maximum of 4 raises permitted on each betting round.

The Antes & Dealer Button

In Razz Poker, a dealer button is used to mark the theoretical dealer before each hand begins. This is important as it dictates the order that the cards are dealt with the first card being dealt to the player to the left of the dealer button.

At the end of each hand the dealer button rotates to the next player to the left so that each player takes it in turn to be the “dealer”.

Stud H/l Rules

Razz does not require blind bets, as in Texas Holdem or Omaha Poker, but uses a small Ante Bet and Bring-In Bet.

Before the start of each hand, every player must place an “Ante” into the pot. This small amount ensures that there are chips to be won in every hand. The Ante varies somewhat, but is generally 10% to 25% of the low-end stakes, so for example at a $2 / $4 stakes table then the Ante would be around $0.20.

The Hole and Door Cards

The hand begins with all players putting their Ante bet of $0.20 into the pot.

Each player is then dealt 3 cards:

• The first two cards are dealt face-down for only the player to see. These are called the “hole cards“.
• The third card is dealt face-up so that everybody at the table can see it. This is called the “door card“.

The door card is important as the player who has the lowest door card must place a forced “Bring In” bet into the pot. If two or more players have the same lowest card then it is decided by the player with the lowest suit. Suits rank lowest to highest in alphabetical order – Clubs (lowest), Diamonds, Hearts, Spades (highest).

The bring in bet can also vary, but is most often equal to half of the low-end stakes, so for example at a $2 / $4 stakes table then the Bring In would be around $1.

The First Betting Round (“3rd Street”)

Once the Bring In bet has been placed then the first round of betting begins, starting with the player left of the bring in player and proceeding around the table in a clockwise fashion.

Each player in order must choose the action they wish to take from the following options:

• Call: You match a bet already placed in the current betting round. In this case it will be the bring in bet amount unless another player has already raised that bet.
• Raise: You not only match, but increase a bet already placed in the current betting round. After a raise is made all other players must match your raised bet or fold (or raise again!).
• Fold: To forfeit the current hand, and all chips in the pot by throwing in your cards, face-down without showing them to any other player (in order to not influence the hand)
• All-In: If you do not have enough chips to cover a bet (or just enough to cover), you may go All-In by pushing your remaining chips into a separate stack near the center of the table. If you lose, you are out of chips and out of the game. If you win, you may only collect chips from each player equal to the amount of your All-In Bet.

When it comes back around to the bring in player, he may call by adding enough chips to his bring-in bet to match the current bet. He may also raise or fold, of course.

4th Street – Second Betting Round

Each card dealt is called a street. A fourth card is dealt to each player, face-up.

The second round of betting commences, same as the last, except that for this round and every round hereafter, the player with the highest open hand (face-up cards only) will always start off the betting.

On 4th Street there are only two exposed cards per player so the highest possible hand at this point is a pair of Aces.

As no bet has yet been placed in the pot in this round of betting there are additional betting options now as follows:

• Check: To place no chips in the pot, but to continue in the hand (not fold). A check can only be placed if no other player has already bet in the current betting round. If a player bets after a check has been made, all players who checked must at least call the bet or fold their hand
• Bet: The first person to place chips into the pot in a betting round is placing a bet which must then be matched by any other player who wants to continue in the hand.

Betting will continue until all players who wish to continue in the hand have placed an equal amount of chips into the pot. Players who do not, must fold and play no further part until the next hand is dealt.

5th, 6th and 7th Street

The pattern continues with another 3 cards dealt individually and after each card is dealt a betting round takes place:

• 5th Street: Each player is dealt a fifth card face-up, followed by another round of betting, same as the last and starting with the player showing the best hand from the three exposed “up cards”. From here out, all bets and raises must be equal to the high-end stakes, for example in a $2/$4 fixed limit game the increment would be $4.
• 6th Street: Each player is dealt a sixth card, face-up. Another round of betting begins again with the player showing the best hand from the now four exposed “up cards”.
• 7th Street: Each player receives a seventh and final card, this time face-down. The exposed “up cards” have not changed, therefore the player who started the previous betting round will do so again for this final betting round.

The Showdown

It is not uncommon for all but one player to fold at some stage during the hand, with other players not wishing to match the winning players bet and negating the need for a showdown, In this situation the winning player receives the pot and is not required to show his hand to the table.

If two or more players are left in the hand after the betting completes on 7th street then a showdown will take place to decide the winner.

All remaining players will use any 5 of their 7 cards to reveal their lowest ranking 5-card poker hand. Again, Aces are always low and Straights / Flushes do not count as combinations.

The player with the lowest ranking poker hand wins the entire pot. In case of a tie, the winning players will split the pot.

The lowest hand is always read from the highest card down, and the hand with the lowest high card will win. To review the low hand rankings and get more information about how low hands are formed then please see our Poker Hand Ranking Guide.

Help – We’ve Run Out of Cards!

There’s not enough cards! Okay, it is possible, though very rare, for an 8-seater hand of Razz to run out of cards before the 7th street is dealt out.

If all 8 players remain in the hand without folding (hence the rarity of this occurrence) there will not be enough cards remaining to deal the 7th street (8 players x 7 cards = 56; there’s only 52 cards in the deck!).

Should this occur, the 7th street will be dealt as a single, face-up card in the center of the table. This card then becomes a community card and all players will use it as their 7th card.

Where to Play Razz Poker?

We recommend Pokerstars for a great place to play Razz Poker. To find out more about them see our Pokerstars Review or to see alternate rooms to play Razz Poker then see the Professor's reviews in our Poker Reviews section.

Razz is the polar opposite of 7 card stud, so if you’re familiar with that game razz will be easy to pick up.

However, if you’re only familiar with holdem or omaha, or you’ve never played poker at all, razz might be confusing for the first couple of hands. But I’ve create walkthrough of the game below, as well as a brief explanation of winning hands and the betting in razz. I hope it shortens the learning curve for you.

Razz Poker Rules

Here is a walk through of razz poker.

First Things First — Antes

Razz doesn’t use blinds like holdem or omaha, but uses antes instead. All players need to ante up before the cards are dealt. The price of the antes are (usually) 10% of the small bet.

3^rd Street – The First Round in Razz Poker

Once the antes have been collected each player will be dealt 3 cards, one at a time, clockwise around the table. The first two cards are dealt faced down, and the 3^rd card (known as the door card) is dealt face up.

The betting round begins with the player who has the highest showing door card. This player is the “bring in.” The bring in will need to place a (forced) bet that is (usually) the size of the ante. The bring in can also choose to “complete” instead, which is to the small bet.

Moving around the table (clockwise) each player will have the option to fold, call or bet.

Third street ends when one of two things happen:

• All but one player folds. They will win the pot and then a new hand will begin.
• Two or more players are left after the betting round. Then they go to 4^th street.

4^th Street

At the beginning of 4^th street each remaining player is dealt another card face up.

The betting action begins with the player who has the lowest showing (best) hand. Each player will have the option to check, call, bet or fold depending on the action in front. Action continues clockwise around the table until everyone has had the opportunity to act.

5^th Street

5^th street is the same as 4^th street. The one exception is that instead of using the small bet, the big bet is used instead.

6^th Street

• Same as 5^th street.

7^th Street

7^th street in razz is the same as 6^th street, except that the last card dealt is dealt face down. The betting round is the same.

Razz Poker Showdown

After the betting round players will need to flip over their hands to determine the winner. The lowest hand wins, and there is no “qualifying” hand – whatever hand is the lowest takes the pot.

In the case of a tie, the pot is split. Suits are not used to break ties.

After a winner (or winners) has been determined and the pot awarded, the cards are shuffled, antes reposted and then a new hand of razz dealt.

What Hands Win in Razz Poker

The winning hand in razz is the hand that is the lowest. Trying to figure out what the lowest hand is can confuse players, so here are the top 10 best razz hands that you can use as a guide.

1. 5 4 3 2 A
2. 6 4 3 2 A
3. 6 5 3 2 A
4. 6 5 4 2 A
5. 6 5 4 3 A
6. 6 5 4 3 2
7. 7 4 3 2 A
8. 7 5 3 2 A
9. 7 5 4 2 A
10. 7 5 4 3 A

How the Betting Works in Razz

The betting in razz can be confusing, too, mostly because it changes halfway through the game and the primary betting type is fixed (most players are used to pot or no limit betting). Here is an overview of how the betting works in razz poker. I’ll use $5 / $10 for the small bet / big bet for my examples.

• Antes are made by each player. They are 10% of the small bet, or $.50.

Limit Razz Rules

• Bring ins are equal to the ante, or $.50. The bring in can also complete to the small bet, or $5.
• The first two betting rounds use the small bet ($5) for all bets and raises.
• The last 3 rounds use the big bet. This would be $10.
• Raises are in increments of the current bet, and are fixed. For example, on 4^th street all bets or raises would need to be in increments of $5. So one bet to $5, a raise to $10, another raise to $15, again to $20 and so on.
• Most razz (stud) games have a betting cap. This is usually a bet and 3 raises per betting round. After this, the only thing a player can do is call or fold (until the next street / betting round).