Razz

Introduction

Razz is a lowball variant of Seven Card Stud. It is played without community cards by 2 to 9 players. Each of these receives two down and one open card to start, called hole cards and the doorcard, respectively. Over the course of the hand, players are dealt three further open cards and one more downcard. From these seven cards, the players must build their poker hands. The player with the worst hand wins the pot.

 

Gameplay

1st Betting round
Before the cards are dealt, each player pays an ante, or forced bet. Each player then is dealt two downcards and one open cards, called the hole cards and the door card, respectively. The player with the highest door card must pay another forced bet to open the round called a bring-in. Usually, it is one half of a small bet or a whole small bet. If two players have the same doorcard, then they are ranked according to their suit, in ascending order: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. For example, if one player has the ace of spades and another the ace of clubs, then the one with the spade would pay the bring-in.

The first betting round follows, starting with the player who paid the bring-in. Players may raise, call or fold.

2nd betting round to (4th Street, Turn) to 4th betting round (6th Street)
Each active player recieves another open card on each street and a round of wagers follows, always opened by the player with the best combination of cards showing, based on the idea that he will never have the lowest hand.

5th betting round (7th Street, River)
Active players recieve one further downcard and the final round of bets are made, opened by the player with the best combination showing. If there are no longer enough cards for each player to get one, then a card is dealt to the board as a community card and any player may use it to build his hand.

Showdown
Active players compare their hands, choosing five of their seven cards to make the best possible combination. The player with the best combination wins the hand.

Ranking the hands

A hand in Razz is better if it contains lower cards. These are the rules:

• Aces are lower than any other card.
• Straights and flushes do not count and do not influence the rank of a hand.
• Hands with pairs do count. Any non-paired hand beats any paired hand. A paired hand beats a three of a kind, which beats a full house, and so on.

The best possible hand in Razz is 5,4,3,2,A, no matter whether it is a flush or not. This is called a wheel.

Example:




There is also a deuce to seven low variant, in which:

• Aces are high.
• Straights and flushes count as normal.
• Pairs, two pair, etc. are handled the same as above.

The best possible hand under these rules is 7,5,4,3,2, not all of one suit. This is also called a wheel.

Example:





Related Topics:

Lowball, Seven Card Stud, Deuce to Seven Triple Draw