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How To Play Razz Poker | Razz Rules
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. In Razz, however, it is just the opposite – the lowest hand wins the pot.
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, 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 1, the lowest card, while Straight and Flushes aren’t considered combinations and hence are ignored. Please keep this in mind while reading the rest of this guide to how to play Razz poker.
Object of Razz
The object of Razz is simple – to use the 7 cards available to you throughout the hand to create the lowest ranking poker hand. (Once again, Aces are low and Straights/Flushes don’t count!)
Betting Structure of Razz
Razz is almost always played with a Fixed Limit betting structure, though 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.
There are 5 rounds of betting in a game of Razz. The first two rounds require all bets and raises to equal the low-end stakes of $2, while the last three betting rounds require bets and raises matching the high-end stakes of $4.
Razz does not require blind bets, as in Texas Hold’em or Omaha Poker, but uses a small Ante Bet and Bring-In. These, along with all other betting options, are described below.
- Ante: A small wager placed by all players before the hand is dealt. The Ante may vary slightly, but is generally 10-25% of the low-end stakes. Therefore in a $2/$4 game, the Ante would be $.20 to $.50.
- Bring-In: Once the cards are dealt, each player will have three cards; two face-down hole cards and one face-up door card. The player with the lowest door card must place the bring-in bet, equal to half the low-end stakes ($2/$4 stakes = $1 bring-in). In case of a tie, the lowest suit places the bring-in bet. Suits are ranked lowest to highest in alphabetical order – Club, Diamond, Heart and Spade.
- Check: To place no chips in the pot, but 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: A bet is the first chips placed in the pot in a single betting round.
- Call: To match a bet already placed in the current betting round.
- Raise: To not only match, but increase a bet already placed in the current betting round.
- Fold: To forfeit the current hand, and all chips in the pot.
- All-In: To bet all remaining chips. These chips have to go into a side-pot because the bettor may not win a higher amount from any player than his own All-In bet. In a Fixed Limit game of Razz, an All-In bet can only be placed if the player has too few, or just enough, chips to bet, call or raise.
General Game Play of Razz
I’m going to walk you through the basic game play of a Razz hand to help better understand how to play Razz poker. This walk-through will use a Fixed Limit betting structure, $2/$4 stakes and 25% Ante.
The Razz hand begins with all players putting their Ante bet of $0.50 into the pot. Each player is then dealt 3 cards; the first two are face-down, called hole cards. The last is face-up, called the door card. The player with the lowest door card (if a tie, lowest suit) places the bring in bet of $1, starting the first round of betting.
All players must bet, raise or fold, gong in clockwise fashion. For this and the next two rounds of betting, all bets / raises must be $2 (low-end stakes). When it comes back around to the bring-in bettor, 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: (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. The highest possible hand at this point is a pair of Aces.
5th Street: A fifth open card is dealt to each player, followed by another round of betting. From here out, all bets / raises must equal the high-end stakes of $4.
6th Street: A sixth open card is dealt to each player. The ensuing betting round is the same as before.
7th Street: The final, seventh card is dealt to each player, this time face-down. The last round of betting begins, in the same manner as the last. Since the 7th street is a hole card, whoever had the highest open hand in the last round will start this round as well.
The Showdown: It is not uncommon for all but one player to fold, negating the need for a showdown, but if two or more players are left in the hand, a showdown will take place. All remaining players will use any of their 7 cards to create the 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.
Exceptions to the Razz Rules
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 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. Should this occur, the 7th street will be dealt as a single, face-up card. All players will assume this to be their 7th card.
You can review the Razz low hand rankings here.
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