Razz Poker Rules

Razz Poker is very basically seven card stud poker but rather than the highest scoring hand winning, the lowest hand wins the pot.

When playing Razz you are looking for the worst seven card stud hand and A-2-3-4-5 is the best hand possible. This low hand is referred to as a bike or wheel.

In Razz poker, straights and flushes don't count and aces are always low.

To perhaps explain this a little better, when playing Razz poker, you don't want a pair or anthing higher. Low value cards are the order of the game and you don't want more than one of each value.

The dealing rounds are briefly described below. Depending on the game being played, as with most other poker games the bets may be limited or have no limit.

Initially the dealer deals two cards face down and one face up. Obviously, the face up cards can be seen by the other players. The player with the highest value upcard generally starts the first round of betting. Each player then either calls the initial bet or raises it.

The players still in the hand then get dealt another upcard. Another round of betting follows.

Another upcard is then dealt to all of the players and another round of betting follows. This is then repeated.

The final card dealt in a game of Razz is, as the first two cards, hidden from the view of the other players. (The river card.) Whereby another round of betting proceeds with the players that are still participating.

At the showdown, the lowest value hand wins and that player wins the pot.

Simple? It really isn't a difficult game to play although like all poker games, there is a strategy to it but starting out isn't difficult and Razz poker can make a refreshing change from the more common games played. Give it a go and see how you get on!