Razz Poker Rules

Razz is Seven-Card Stud with one important difference: The lowest hand wins, not the highest hand. Like Seven-Card Stud Hi, it is played with two to eight players.

The Deal

And as in Seven-Card Stud Hi, each player receives two hole cards down and a door card up on the first deal, then three up cards and one down card in the next four deals that follow the last four betting rounds. The visible card in the first round of cards (three to each player) is called the "door card" and sometimes "Third Street." Each subsequent round is a single card, and is called "Fourth Street," "Fifth Street" and so on. Many players call "Seventh Street" the "River."

The Betting

• Antes. Razz, like Seven-Card Stud Hi, uses antes. Normally it is some fraction of the "small bet." Antes do not count towards subsequent betting.
• Bring-In. There is a forced blind bet at the beginning of each hand after the initial deal. The player with the highest door card must put on-half of a "small bet" in the pot. (In Seven-Card Stud Hi, it is the lowest door card that makes the bring-in bet.) Ties in rank are resolved by suit. This is the only time suit matters in Razz. From high to low, the suits are Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs. The bring-in bet counts as a real bet. The bring-in player has the option of making a full "small bet." Subsequent players cannot "check" - they must either fold, call or raise. In Limit Razz all bets and raises must be in the amount of a "small bet."
• Later Betting Rounds. Razz, like Seven-card Stud Hi, has a total of five betting rounds. In Limit games, the first two betting rounds are at the "small bet" level and the last three are at the "big bet" level, with a set number of permitted raises (usually three) per round. On Fourth Street, the player with the lowest two card hand showing will start the betting. (The lowest possible is A-2.) If there is a tie, the player nearest the left hand of the dealer will go first. In Seven-Card Stud Hi it is common to play that an open pair on fourth street triggers a move to the higher betting limit. This rule is not followed in Razz for obvious reasons. Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Streets follow in order, always starting the action with the player showing to lowest open (i.e., visible) hand. The "big bet" is the unit used for all bets and raises in limit Razz.
• The Showdown. The last person to bet is the first to display cards, and then the showdown goes in sequence to the left. Like Seven-Card Stud, a player can use any combination of his or her seven dealt cards to comprise a five-card hand. The lowest active hand at showdown wins the pot.

Evaluation of Hands

Aces are always low. Flushes are ignored. Straights are ignored. The lowest hand (the absolute nuts) is thus A-2-3-4-5. A hand is valued by its highest card (assuming no pairs or higher poker hands.) If there is a tie in the highest card, the second-highest cards are compared, and so on until the tie is resolved.

Special Rule

The special rule for what happens if the dealer will run out of cards with eight persons playing applies in Razz just as it does in Seven-Card Stud Hi.