Razz is a great poker variation that will bring you where you have never been.
It shares a lot with 7 card stud but at the same time it is very different.
It is also part of the H.O.R.S.E game (the R) and, after you will have tried Razz a few times, you will quickly understand how challenging it can be to switch from Hold’em to Omaha to Razz to Stud within a few hands.
Enough blabla for now, let’s look at how it actually works.
If you are not familiar with 7 card stud, before going into details about Razz, you must read the Introduction to Stud Poker, the Seven Card Stud Dealing Sequence and the Betting Structure as Razz follows the same rules.
Now that you know the basics, here are the razz specifics.
Razz Specifics
Contrary to 7-card stud, Razz is a low game. It is also called Seven Card Stud Low sometimes. Straights and Flushes do not count as a combination and you can pretty much forget the Poker hand ranking as you want none of them. The worst 5-card hand wins.
The best Razz hand is A-2-3-4-5 also known as a wheel.
If you are familiar with Omaha High-Low, think of always shooting for a low hand (except 9 lows can sometimes, although rarely, win in Razz).
Understanding low hands is easy, always look at the highest of the 5 cards and go down. Basically 76543 will beat 8432A.
Remember that paired cards do not count.
When it comes to the bring-in, it will be assigned to the player with the highest card at the table. Note that Aces are considered as low cards.
As for Stud, in case of a tie, the suit differentiates the two players. Basically if you hold Ks, you are going to pay the bring-in for sure.
The first player to act in all betting rounds after 4th street is the one with the lowest hand showing. In case of a tie, the closest player from the dealer starts.
When it comes to betting, the first two betting rounds (3rd and 4th street) are played with the low limit amount and the three last betting rounds with the high limit amount. Note that contrary to seven card stud, there are no exceptions.
Some key strategy concepts
As for Stud, it is very important to look at your opponents’ hands and to count your and your opponents’ dead and live cards.
If your opponents hold some of your cards, your hand’s strength is greatly increased as you are less likely to pair the cards in your hand. Contrary to Stud, you want your cards to be dead in Razz.
Keeping an eye on you opponents’ cards will very often dictate your action as you know that they need a 5 card low hand; this means that if they only hit high cards you can make easy assumptions and bet.
Once again, as in Stud, pay attention to the first player raising the bring-in. An early position raise will indicate that he probably has a strong starting hand (this is actually applicable to Poker in general, I’m wasting my time J). A late position raise will obviously be more questionable.
On the other side, thanks to the game being played with antes, stealing is an important part of the game so if you have the lowest door card at the table or if you’re in a late position and it’s folded up to you, do not hesitate to try picking up the antes and the bring-in.
In Razz, slow-playing is not very well rewarded, so keep things simple, bet and raise with strong hands. Even if you get a bad or average fourth street, the price to call will still be low and you’ll therefore normally have decent pot odds.
Note that having a pair during the course of a game is not necessarily alarming; hitting two pair should be an immediate fold.
The same principle should apply for high cards (JQK), you may survive one, hitting another one will usually mean that you will end up folding.
When it comes to starting hands, the selection is quite easy.
Raise with hands having three cards between Ace and Five.
Three cards between Ace and Six in a starting hand is still more than decent, feel free to be quite aggressive.
If you have three cards below Seven, your hand is worth a call.
A starting hand with cards lower than Eight starts being marginal. Play them with a lot of caution if you do so. You will lose money in the long run if you play all of them.
Remember to fold your starting hands with pairs and trips.
Finally, I’m going to skip the usual talk about image, playing styles, mixing up your game, etc. but never ever forget it!
I hope this will have given you a good idea of how Razz works, it’s now time for you to try it out if you want to improve!
Good Luck and Have Fun
