Razz Poker is Seven Card Stud played for low only, so the scruffy little cards that usually get ignored at other tables are suddenly the ones everybody is squinting at.
Each player is dealt seven cards over the course of a hand, but only the best five-card low hand counts when it comes to deciding the winner. Razz uses the Ace to Five low ranking system, also known as the California system.
Unlike Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo or Omaha Hi/Lo, there is no eight or better requirement in Razz. The best low hand takes the whole pot.
Bets, Payouts & Rules
Razz runs across a series of streets, with cards dealt face up and face down and a round of betting after each deal.
- Ante: all players post an ante before the hand is dealt.
- Third Street: each player receives two hidden hole cards and one face-up card. The player showing the highest exposed card is the bring-in and must open the action, either with the bring-in or with a full bet in the lower betting increment. Action then moves clockwise.
- Fourth Street: another exposed card is dealt. The player with the lowest exposed hand acts first and may check or bet in the smaller increment.
- Fifth Street: another exposed card is dealt, with the lowest exposed hand acting first. From this street onwards, all bets and raises use the larger betting increment.
- Sixth Street: another exposed card, another round of betting, again starting with the lowest exposed hand.
- Seventh Street (the River): a final card is dealt face down and seen only by its owner, followed by the last round of betting.
The Showdown
If more than one player remains after the final betting round, the last player to bet or raise shows first. If there was no bet on the final round, the player in the earliest seat shows first, and remaining hands are exposed clockwise.
The best five-card Ace to Five low hand wins the pot, with no qualifier to meet. If two or more hands are equal in value, the pot is split evenly between them, and suits play no part in awarding it.
Hand Rankings in Order
Straights and flushes do not count against a low hand, and Aces are always low, so the strongest holding in Razz is a wheel: 5, 4, 3, 2, A. These sample hands run from least powerful to most powerful:
- 3, 3, 3, 5, 5
- K, K, 4, 3, 2
- 2, 2, 7, 6, 5
- A, A, T, 9, 8
- K, Q, J, T, 9
- K, Q, J, T, 7
- 9, 8, 7, 6, 5
- 9, 7, 6, 5, 3
- 9, 7, 6, 5, A
- 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
- 6, 4, 3, 2, A
- 5, 4, 3, 2, A
An unpaired low hand is read from its highest card downwards, so 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 is a Six-low and 9, 7, 6, 5, A is a Nine-low. Closer hands are separated by reading further down, so a Six-Four low beats a Six-Five low.
Betting Options
The available actions are fold, check, bet, call and raise, and which ones you can use depends on what the players before you have done. With no bet yet made, you may check or bet. Once a bet is out there, the options are fold, call or raise. In Limit games, bets and raises are made in pre-determined increments.
Features & Bonus Rounds
The Bring-In
On Third Street, whoever is showing the highest exposed card is volunteered to open the action, which at a table obsessed with low cards is a thankless job indeed. Ties in card rank for the bring-in are broken by suit, ranked from spades down through hearts and diamonds to clubs, with the highest suit bringing in. That suit rule applies only to the bring-in, never to ranking equal hands at showdown.
All-In For The Ante
If the player with the highest card showing on Third Street is all-in for the ante and cannot post the bring-in, the bring-in passes clockwise to the next player, whatever card that player is showing.
Community Card
With only 52 cards in the deck, an eight-handed pot can occasionally run short before Seventh Street. In that rare case, a single community card is dealt face up in the middle for all remaining players to share.
Related Formats
Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo is also available, where the pot is split between the high hand and the best qualifying eight or better low hand. If you already know your way around Stud, Razz tends to click quickly, and getting comfortable with Stud first makes the low-only twist easier to follow.
Taste & Feel
Razz has the slow, watchful rhythm of classic Stud poker. Cards arrive one at a time, most of them face up, so half the table's story is told out in the open while the hole cards keep their secrets.
Kings and Queens turn up with all their usual swagger and get precisely no welcome here, while a ragged spread of low cards is quietly the belle of the ball.
If you fancy a poker variant that reads the rulebook back to front and refuses to apologise for it, the Razz tables are there whenever you feel like taking a look.