Razz Rules

In hold'em, players receive two down cards as their personal hand (holecards), after which there is a round of betting. Three board cards are turned simultaneously (called the flop) and another round of betting occurs. The next two board cards are turned one at a time, with a round of betting after each card. The board cards are community cards, and a player can use any five-card combination from among the board and personal cards. A player can even use all of the board cards and no personal cards to form a hand ('play the board'). A dealer button is used. The usual structure is to use two blinds, but it is possible to play the game with one blind, multiple blinds, an ante, or combination of blinds plus an ante.

1. Poker Razz Rules
2. 2-7 Razz Rules

Rounds of Betting

• Opening deal- Each player is dealt two cards face down, which are known as hole cards or pocket cards.


• First round of betting- Starting with the player to the left of the big blind, each player can call the big blind, raise, or fold. The big blind has the option to raise an otherwise unraised pot.
• The flop- The dealer burns a card, and then deals three community cards face up. The first three cards are referred to as the flop, while all of the community cards are collectively called the board.


• Second round of betting- Starting with the player to the left of the dealer button, each player can check or bet. Once a bet has been made, each player can raise, call, or fold.
• The turn- The dealer burns another card, and then adds a fourth card face-up to the community cards. This fourth card is known as the turn card, or fourth street.
The Turn



• Third round of betting- It follows the same format as the second round, but the size of the bets have usually doubled in limit games.
• The river- The dealer burns another card, and then adds a fifth and final card to the community cards. This fifth card is known as the river card, or fifth street.
Flop

The River



• Final round of betting- It follows the same format as the second and third rounds.
• The showdown- Using the best five-card combination of their hole cards and the community cards, the remaining players show their hands, with the bettor or last raiser showing first. The highest five-card hand wins the pot. (In case of a tie, the pot is evenly split among the winning hands.)

Other Texas Hold'em Poker Rules

The rules of Razz Poker are just like 7 Card Stud, except the lowest (worst) hand wins. Razz is played as a fixed limit game, with four cards dealt face up and three cards face down. Instead of blinds, Razz Poker utilizes antes and bring-ins to create action. Antes are typically 20% of the lower betting limit. The Complete Rules of Razz Razz is played almost exactly like 7 card stud, except the lowest five card hand wins instead of the highest. The best possible Razz hand is an A, 2, 3, 4, 5, which is called a wheel. Straights and flushes do not count. 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. Razz is a form of stud poker that is normally played for ace-to-five low. It is one of the oldest forms of poker, and has been played since the start of the 20th Century. It emerged around the time people started using the 52-card deck instead of 20 for poker. The object of Razz is to make the lowest possible five-card hand from the seven cards you are dealt. In Razz, straights and flushes do not count against the player for low, and the ace always plays low. Thus, the best possible Razz hand is. 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.

These rules deal only with irregularities. SeeButton and Blinduse for rules on that subject.

• If the first or second hole card dealt is exposed, a misdeal results. The dealer retrieves the card, reshuffles, and recuts the cards. If any other holecard is exposed due to a dealer error, the deal continues. The exposed card can not be kept. After completing the hand, the dealer replaces the card with the top card on the deck, and the exposed card is then used for the burncard. If more than one hole card is exposed, this is a misdeal and there must be a redeal.
• If the flop contains too many cards, it must be redealt. (This applies even if it is possible to know which card is the extra one.)
• If the flop needs to be redealt because the cards were prematurely flopped before the betting was complete, or the flop contained too many cards, the board cards are mixed with the remainder of the deck. The burn card remains on the table. After shuffling, the dealer cuts the deck and deals a new flop without burning a card.
  See Explanations,discussion #2, for more information on this rule.
  
• If the dealer turns the fourth card on the board before the betting round is complete, the card is taken out of play for that round, even if subsequent players elect to fold. The betting is then completed. The dealer burns and turns what would have been the fifth card in the fourth card's place. After this round of betting, the dealer reshuffles the deck, including the card that was taken out of play, but not including the burn cards or discards. The dealer then cuts the deck and turns the final card without burning a card. If the fifth card is turned up prematurely, the deck is reshuffled and dealt in the same manner.
  See Explanations,discussion #2, for more information on this rule.
  
• If the dealer mistakenly deals the first player an extra card (after all players have received their starting hands), the card is returned to the deck and used for the burn card. If the dealer mistakenly deals more than one extra card, it is a misdeal.
• If you are playing the board, you must so declare before you throw your cards away; otherwise you relinquish all claim to the pot.

Razz is a form of stud poker that is normally played for ace-to-five low (lowball poker). It is one of the oldest forms of poker, and has been played since the start of the 20th Century. It emerged around the time people started using the 52-card deck instead of 20 for poker.^[1]

The object of Razz is to make the lowest possible five-card hand from the seven cards you are dealt. In Razz, straights and flushes do not count against the player for low, and the ace always plays low. Thus, the best possible Razz hand is 5-4-3-2-A, or 5 high, also known as 'the wheel' or 'the bicycle'. Deuce-to-seven Razz is also sometimes played. Razz is featured in the mixed game rotation H.O.R.S.E. as the 'R' in the game's name.

Play[edit]

Razz is similar to seven-card stud, except the lowest hand wins. Seven cards are dealt to each player, but only the five best cards (generally the five lowest unpaired cards) are used in forming a complete hand.^[2]

Razz is usually played with a maximum of eight players,^[3] with limit betting, meaning that there is a fixed amount that can be bet per player per round. Each player antes and is dealt two cards face down (the hole cards), and one card face up (the 'door card'). The highest door card showing has to 'bring it in' – put in the mandatory first bet, which is usually one third to one half of the regular bet. The player responsible for the bring-in can instead opt to 'complete the bet', i.e. make a whole regular bet. If they opt to make a normal bring-in, the remaining players can either call the bet or 'complete', by raising to a regular bet. From that point the betting continues in regular bet increments.^[2][3]

In a case where two people have a door card of the same rank, the bring in is determined by suit.^[2][3] Spades (♠) is the highest possible suit, followed by hearts (♥), diamonds (♦), and clubs (♣). The K♠ is the worst possible door card in Razz, and a guaranteed bring-in. Play continues clockwise from the bring in, as in normal Stud poker. After the first round of betting, each player still in the hand receives another card face up. Betting begins with the lowest hand showing. Play continues like this until the fifth card, at which point the betting increments double.^[2][3] The seventh card is dealt face down, and action would begin with the same player who opened betting on the 6th card.^[2][3] In hand-dealt games, after each hand the deal rotates to the left, as with most forms of poker; although the dealer doesn't play a strategic role as in blind games.^[3]

Shortage of cards[edit]

It is possible for the dealer to run out of cards before the end of the hand. This can occur when eight players are still in the hand when the seventh cards are to be dealt. Seven cards for eight players would require 56 cards in the deck. Since Razz uses a standard 52 card deck, the hand would be four cards short.

To fix this problem, the dealer does not deal a seventh card to any player. Instead, the dealer deals one final card face up in the center of the table, which becomes a community card. All eight players may use this card as the seventh card in their own hands. This is the only time a community card is ever used in Razz.^[4]

World Series of Poker[edit]

Razz has been an event at the World Series of Poker since 1971, when Jimmy Casella won the first ever WSOP Razz event for a grand prize of $10,000.^[5][6] Razz is the most popular form of lowball poker but in the overall popularity stakes sits firmly behind Texas hold 'em and Omaha hold 'em. In 2004, the WSOP Razz event was televised by ESPN; the tournament was won by professional poker player and multiple bracelet winner T. J. Cloutier.^[3] After the event Razz grew massively in popularity and most of the major online poker rooms added Razz to their spread of games. Full Tilt Poker was the first online site to offer Razz games but soon after the televised tournament, Poker.com, Absolute Poker and finally in 2006 PokerStars added Razz to their selection of games.^[7] Since 1971, Razz has been featured in every World Series of Poker apart from the 1972 series.

London lowball[edit]

London lowball is a game played almost exclusively in Europe. It is almost identical to Razz in play with the following exceptions: straights and flushes count against a player for low, so the best possible hand is 6-4-3-2-A,^[8] and its canonical version is played at pot limit. Some variations of the game are played at no limit, but the name 'London lowball' is typically reserved for the pot-limit version.^[9]

Strategy[edit]

Normally the best starting hand in Razz is A-2-3. A general strategy in a full-ring game is to only play unpaired cards none of them higher than 8s.^[10] Players want to avoid making pairs and should evaluate other door cards in relation to the strength of their hand. For instance, Jane holds 3-4-5 and sees four 'dead' door cards of 3-4-4-5 behind her. This is a strong hand, as the likelihood of pairing her hole cards is now greatly diminished.

Poker Razz Rules

Observing the door cards of other players is also very important. A player's hand is much stronger if there are cards of the same denomination already showing (less chance of pairing up on a draw) and weaker if there are make cards visible (i.e. a A-6-7 is a much stronger hand when other players are showing Aces, 6s and 7s than when these players are showing 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s).

Another key strategy in Razz is stealing the antes and bring-in bets. If a player is to the right of the bring-in bettor, and everyone else folds, a raise with a lower exposed card is normally the correct play. For example, if Mary has a 9 showing, and John, the bring-in bettor, has a K showing, Mary should normally raise if everyone else folds.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Razz.

1. ^'Razz Rules'. somuchpoker.com. Retrieved 2019-04-04.
2. ^ ^abcdePokerstars.com: Razz (7 Card Stud Low)
3. ^ ^abcdefgPoker-Babes.com: How to Play the Game of Razz
4. ^lolPoker.com: Razz poker rules
5. ^'2nd World Series of Poker (WSOP) 1971 – $ 1,000 Limit Razz'. The Hendon Mob. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
6. ^Razzpokerrules.org - WSOP Razz
7. ^Playlowballpoker.com: Razz Poker
8. ^PlanetPoker.com: Poker Dictionary
9. ^Gambling-Poker.com: Razz Poker - London Lowball Poker
10. ^Poker-Strategy.org: Razz poker

2-7 Razz Rules