Razz Rules and Strategy

How to Play and What are the Rules of Razz Poker

Thursday, May 21, 2009, Zedmaster

Have you ever wondered that you are getting consistently crap cards at a No Limit Hold'em Tournament and seem to get no luck, all those random low connectors and you can't compete against an aggressive table with a lot of raises? Well, Razz...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Have you ever wondered that you are getting consistently crap cards at a No Limit Hold'em Tournament and seem to get no luck, all those random low connectors and you can't compete against an aggressive table with a lot of raises? Well, Razz is totally different and in this Seven Card Stud poker game not the highest hand wins, but instead the lowest and worst hand. Therefore the lowest hand in Razz is<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/ac.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/ac.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2d.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2d.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3s.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3s.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4d.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4d.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5s.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5s.gif" />, straights and flushes don't count against a hand being low, and aces are counted as low. The ace to five straight is also called "the bike" or "the wheel," and is the best possible low hand.</p><p>As in the regular Seven Card Stud, every player is dealt a total of seven cards, three of them face down, and the other four face up. There is a forced "Bring-In" each hand and Razz is also played with an ante from the beginning. After the first set of cards is dealt out and 1 card is showing openly for all players on the table with the other 2 cards being face down, the player with the highest open showing card has to pay the "Bring-In" - this can be compared with the Small Blind in regular No Limit Hold'em, but other than in NLHE the Button does not determine the position of SB and BB. Also, the SB and BB do not automatically move round the table, because always the dealt cards decide on who has to pay the "Bring-In". If two or more players share the highest card (e.g.<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/as.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/as.gif" /> vs<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/ac.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/ac.gif" />), the one closest to the dealer's left side must bring in - the suit doesn't matter opposed to Seven Card Stud. Ante and Bring In are called "forced bets" and the Bring In determines the first betting round and there are 5 betting rounds in total.</p><p>In the first two betting rounds (3rd street, 4th street - see explanation below), all bets and raises have to be equal to the low Bring In - in the third, fourth, and fifth betting rounds, all bets have to match the high limit bet size. In total, there is a maximum of 3 raises are allowed per betting round. If you are playing 2$/4$ Razz for example, the bet on 3rd street and 4th street is 2$ and on 5th street until the river, the first bet is 4$. Let's have a closer look to the 5 betting rounds:</p><p><strong>3rd street</strong></p><p>Two cards are dealt face down to every player, followed by another card face up - the Bring In is determined by the highest open showing card and the player has to bet 1/2 of the low limit (that would be 1$ in the example from above). All players after the Bring In have to make their decision clockwise around the table, by either choosing to fold, call, or raise. All bets and raises must be equal to the low limit bet size.<br /><br /><strong>4th street</strong></p><p>A fourth card is dealt to each player that is still in the hand, again face up to every player. This time, the player with the lowest hand showing at the table is first to act - at this time of the hand this would be <img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" />for example. If two or more players are tied for the lowest hand, the one closest to the dealer's left will be the first to act. Again, play proceeds clockwise around the table as before - all bets and raises have to match the low limit bet size (2$ in this example).<br /><br /><strong>5th street</strong></p><p>A fifth card is dealt face up to every player. Play proceeds as on 4th street with the lowest hand being first to act again, but from now on all bets and raises have to match the high limit bet size (4$ in our example). Example for the lowest hand at this stage of the hand:<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3c.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3c.gif" /><br /><br /><strong>6th street</strong></p><p>A sixth card is dealt, also the last time face up to every player on the table. Play proceeds as on 4th and 5th street and the bets and raises have to match the high limit bet size (4$), the player with the lowest showing hand is first to act again - for example<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3c.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3c.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4s.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4s.gif" />.</p><p><strong>7th street (River)</strong></p><p>This is the last betting round and a seventh and final card is dealt (face down this time!) to every player that is still involved in this hand. Again the lowest showing hand is first to act and all bets and raises have to match the high limit bet size. If there are still all eight players remaining at this stage of the hand (which rarely happens), there would of course not be enough cards for each player to receive another one. If that happens, instead of every player receiving a card face down, a single card is placed in the middle of the table face up which every player is free to use.<br /><br /><strong>The Showdown</strong></p><p>Every player that has not folded after the last round of betting can show the hand or either muck it, when they see that they are already beaten by an opponent. The player who bet last is the first to show their hand and afterwards it proceeds clockwise as usual. It's recommended not to show the played hand often to not give away reads to a player on the betting and calling patterns throughout the hand.</p><p>Of course this all may sound very complicated for beginners that have never played Razz before, but the hand value is getting even more crazy. Out of the 7 cards that are being dealt to each player, each has to choose the 5 lowest cards - obviously pairs do not count as 2 low cards and will be discarded. But regarding the strength (or more likely weakness in this matter), the players have to count from the "highest low card" to the "lowest low card" to determine the winner of the hand. That does mean, the best hand is not determined by the lowest possible card (that would be an ace), but the 5th "highest" card and from there, they count downwards - sounds complicated, but I will give you a few examples:</p><p>Hole Cards<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4s.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4s.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7d.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7d.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/8h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/8h.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/jh.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/jh.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/kc.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/kc.gif" /> make a Razz low hand of<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4s.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4s.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7d.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7d.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/8h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/8h.gif" /> - therefore the first card that counts for the low hand is the<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/8h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/8h.gif" />.</p><p>If an opponent would have<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2d.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2d.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3c.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3c.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4d.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4d.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5s.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5s.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7c.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7c.gif" />, he would beat you although you got the ace as lowest card, but his "highest low card" is the<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7c.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7c.gif" /> and that beats your own<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/8h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/8h.gif" />.</p><p>The suit does not matter when you count down the low cards and in the case, 2 players have exactly the same value of the 5 low cards, they will split the pot.</p><p>Another example on how to count down the cards:</p><p>Player 1:<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7d.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7d.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/6h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/6h.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5c.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5c.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3d.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3d.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/ac.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/ac.gif" /></p><p>Player 2:<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7s.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/7d.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/6d.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/6d.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4c.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4c.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3h.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2s.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2s.gif" /></p><p>Player 2 wins the pot, because the 3rd lowest card<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4c.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4c.gif" />beats the<img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5c.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5c.gif" /> from Player 1.</p><p>The ultimate nuts in Razz is of course "the wheel" <img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/aced.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2s.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2s.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3d.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3d.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4c.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4c.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5s.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5s.gif" />and it would be very uncommon when 2 players still split the pot with 2 identical cards in that case, but of course it also does happen. Even if you hit a straight flush low <img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/ah.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/ah.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/2h.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/3h.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/4h.gif" /><img alt="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5h.gif" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/images/cards/5h.gif" />, you would have to split with the other hand A-5. You could call the low straight flush also the "Royal Flush of Razz", but if you "have" the pleasure to hit a real Royal Flush on a Razz table, it would really suck lol.</p><p style="margin-bottom:12pt;">Hope this little basic guide through Razz does help understanding this poker game, although it does very complicated - but a bit of training and you will know exactly the value of your own hand and if you are winning the pot or not.</p>

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Razz Rules and Strategy

How to Play and What are the Rules of Razz Poker