Rules of Razz Poker

Razz Poker is a 7 card stud variant- the main difference being that instead of the highest hand winning the pot the lowest hand wins. The game is usually played ace to five low (Lowball) with a maximum of 8 players and as in 7 Stud, each player is dealt a total of 7 whole cards. The objective of the game is to use the best 5 cards out of seven, to make the best 5 card hand.

Flushes and straights have no ranking, so the best possible hand is 5-4-3-2-A. The ace to five straight is also called "the bike" or "the wheel," and is the best 'low hand' that you can make. Note that Razz is not like Hi Low games where split pots come into effect like Omaha. Additionally, all cards do not have to be under 8.

Game Play

Players would initially post an ante. All players are then dealt two hole cards face down, and one up card - otherwise known as the 'Door Card'. The first bet or 'bring in' bet is posted by the highest door card. Where there's a tie on door cards, the player with the highest suit would 'bring in' - suits are ranked as follows: Spade (highest), hearts, diamonds, clubs (lowest). There is now a round of betting. Players can make a nominal bet or bet the full amount in the lower increment.

Players then receive another up card, known as 'Fourth Street'. This time, betting is started by the lowest hand showing. Fifth and Sixth Streets are also dealt face up followed by a round of betting. On both streets, the lowest exposed hand starts the betting. On seventh street, a seventh and final down card is dealt and a last round of betting, again kicked off by the strongest (lowest) exposed hand. There is then a showdown.

At Showdown

At showdown the last contributor to the pot should show their hand first. Hands are then overturned in a clockwise manner until all cards are visible. The best low hand would win the pot. Where two players have identical hands, they would share the pot - at showdown, there's no rankings by suit.

Top Razz Poker Hands

Here are the top 10 Razz hands:

1. A-2-3-4-5

2. A-2-3-4-6

3. A-2-3-5-6

4. A-2-4-5-6

5. A-3-4-5-6

6. 2-3-4-5-6

7. A-2-3-4-7

8. A-2-3-5-7

9. A-2-4-5-7

10. A-3-4-5-7

Bet Sizes

There is 5 rounds of betting in Razz. In fixed limit, all bets and raises must be equal to either the low limit, or high limit bet size, depending on what round it is. In round one and two all bets and raises should be equal to the low limit bet size. In the third, fourth and fifth betting rounds all best must be equal to the high limit bet size. Note that a maximum of 3 raises is allowed each round of betting.

In terms of re-raises - there's usually a cap on the number of sequential raises that can be made - usually 3. Throughout the game, and up until Fourth Street, all bets are at the lower limit. From Fifth Street onwards, all bets made will be in the higher limit increments.

Whilst you won't find this particular game played online, you can play 7 Card Stud, a few of it's variations (sadly not this one!) as well as over 20 other games!. See which games are available and how rooms stack up against each game.

 
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