How to Play Razz Poker
Razz is seven-card stud where the lowest hand wins. Each player gets seven cards across five betting rounds; your best five unpaired low cards make your hand. Aces count low, straights and flushes don't count at all, and the best possible hand is 5-4-3-2-A — "the wheel."
The rules in five ideas
If you already play Hold'em, Razz takes about two minutes to understand — mostly because everything you know is upside down.
1. Lowest hand wins. Forget big hands. At showdown, the worst five cards take the pot.
2. Aces are low, paint is trash. The ace is the best card in the deck — it counts as one. Kings, queens, and jacks are the cards you're running from. The low ones are babies; a card that ruins your hand is a brick.
3. Pairs are poison. Your five cards must all be different ranks — pair up and one card is dead weight.
4. Straights and flushes don't exist. Which is why 5-4-3-2-A — a straight anywhere else — is the nuts here. It's called the wheel.
5. Seven cards, best five play. Dealt like classic stud, across the five streets:
Try it — one real decision
You hold (A♣ 3♦) 4♠. Ruby shows K♥ and pays the bring-in. Your move?
How the betting works
No blinds. Everyone antes, then the highest door card must open the betting with the bring-in — in Razz, being ugly costs money. From fourth street on, the lowest board acts first. Bets come in two fixed sizes: small on the first two rounds, double from the fifth card on, with raises capped — you always know the most a hand can cost you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best hand in Razz?
Do straights and flushes count in Razz?
Is an ace high or low in Razz?
What's the bring-in?
Is Razz hard to learn?
Razz terms to know
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