Razz poker: rules, betting and starting hands for 7-card stud low

Razz is seven-card stud played for the lowest hand. Each player gets seven cards, three face down and four face up, and the best low five-card hand takes the whole pot. Aces count as low, straights and flushes are ignored, so the best possible hand is 5-4-3-2-A, known as the wheel. There is no qualifier, so the lowest hand wins even if it is king-high.

Razz poker rules, street by street

If you know seven-card stud, you already know most of Razz. The deal, the five betting rounds and the limit structure are the same. Three things change: the bring-in goes to the highest card, the lowest board acts first, and there is no option to make a double bet on fourth street.

Every player posts an ante before the deal, and the game is almost always fixed limit. At a $10/$20 table the ante is usually $1, the bring-in $5, the small bet $10 and the big bet $20. Up to eight players can sit in. To see how the streets work, follow one hand with four players at that table.

Third street: the bring-in

Each player gets two cards face down and one face up, called the door card. The player with the highest door card must start the betting with the bring-in. Kings are the highest cards and aces the lowest. If two players show the same rank, suits decide: spades are highest, then hearts, diamonds and clubs.

The bring-in player can post $5 or a full $10, which is called completing. Here the king posts $5, Player B completes to $10, Player C folds, you call with A♣ 5♥ under a 3♦, and the king folds. Three cards to a five is one of the best starts in the game.

Fourth street: the lowest board acts first

From fourth street on, the bring-in is gone and the player with the lowest showing cards acts first. Boards are compared like finished hands, highest card first, and a pair showing counts as a bad hand: 9-9 is higher than K-Q. Bets stay at $10. Regular stud allows a double bet when a pair shows on fourth street; Razz doesn’t.

Fifth, sixth and seventh street

From fifth street the bets double to $20 and stay there. Your queen is a bad card, but you still hold four cards to a six-low with two to come. On sixth street you catch the 2♥, Player B the 8♦, both of you put in $20, and the pot reaches $129.

After the last betting round each player picks the best five of seven cards. Your A♣ 5♥ 3♦ 6♠ 2♥ makes a six-five, a strong Razz hand; the queen and the eight are left out.

How to read a low hand

Low hands are compared from the top down: the lower highest card wins, and if those match, you compare the next card. That is why Razz hands are named by their top cards, “a seven-six” or “an eight-four”. The examples below include two traps for Hold’em players: straights don’t count against you, and any hand without a pair beats any hand with one.

If two hands match card for card, the pot is split. Suits only matter for deciding who brings in; at showdown they never break a tie.

A full hand of Razz, with the decisions

The hand above shows the order of play. This one shows the decisions: playing a good start, continuing after a bad card, and using pot odds in a limit game. The table is $10/$20 with six players, so $6 in antes is in the pot before anyone acts.

Third street. You get 2♣ 4♦ down and 3♠ up. The other door cards are K♣, 9♥, 6♦, Q♠ and 7♣. The K♣ brings in for $5, the 9♥ folds and the 6♦ completes to $10. With three cards to a four and mostly high cards showing elsewhere, you raise to $20. Everyone else folds and the 6♦ calls. Pot: $51.

Fourth street. You catch the 8♥, your opponent the J♦. Your 8-3 is lower than his J-6, so you act first. His jack hurt him, so you bet $10 and he calls. Pot: $71.

Fifth street. Now you catch the K♠ and he catches the 5♣. His J-6-5 is the lower board, so he acts first and bets $20. You hold 2-3-4-8 plus a king: one card short of an eight-low, with two cards to come. Calling $20 into $91 means you need to win about 18% of the time. Against the A♥ 7♠ he turns out to hold, your hand wins about 38% of the time, so the call is clear. Pot: $111.

Sixth street. The 6♥ gives you a made 8-6-4-3-2. He catches the Q♥, which makes his board Q-J-6-5. He checks, you bet $20, and he calls with four cards to a seven. Your hand now wins a little over 80% of the time; nine cards in the deck, any 2, 3 or 4, would still beat your 8-6. Pot: $151.

Seventh street. You get the 9♣, which doesn’t matter, and he gets the T♣, which ends his hand at J-7-6-5-A. He checks, you bet $20, and he folds. You take the $151 pot.

Look at the dead cards before you decide. In this hand the folded door cards were K♣, 9♥, Q♠ and 7♣: almost all high cards you didn’t need, which makes the low cards you were drawing to more likely to come.

Razz strategy: starting hands, dead cards and steals

Most money in Razz is won or lost on third street. You decide whether to play with only three cards, and you see seven or eight door cards that tell you which low cards are already gone.

Razz starting hand chart

The chart groups starting hands by their highest card. The odds come from our own simulations: how often each start finishes with an eight-low or better, and how often it beats one random hand when both go to seventh street. Dead cards aren’t counted.

Any three different cards eight or lower make an eight-low about 48% of the time, from A-2-3 and 3-5-8 alike. The difference is the quality of the low: three to a seven makes a seven-low or better 33% of the time, three to an eight only 11%. The usual rule, play three cards eight or lower and fold the rest, is a default. A strong start whose cards already show on other boards plays worse than the chart says.

Dead cards change the odds

Every door card you can see is a card you won’t catch. Take the best start in the chart, A-2-3, and change only the cards on other boards:

• No low cards showing elsewhere: 48.6% to make an eight-low or better
• 4♠, 4♥ and 5♦ on other boards: 41.8%
• Only kings, queens, jacks, tens and nines on other boards: 59.1%

Before acting on third street, count how many of the low cards you need are already out.

Stealing the bring-in

At an eight-handed $10/$20 table the pot before any voluntary bet holds $13: $8 in antes and the $5 bring-in. Completing to $10 risks $10 to win $13, so a steal breaks even if everyone folds 43.5% of the time.

The steal works best when your door card is lower than every card still to act behind you, and the bring-in shows a king or a queen. It works much worse when a player behind you shows an ace or a deuce: that player can re-raise, and against a real low hand the steal loses its edge.

Your board matters as much as your hole cards. A 3 showing tells the table you might have a good start, even with a king in the hole. A king showing tells them you probably don’t, even if your hole cards are perfect.

Razz vs other lowball games

Several games are played for the low hand, and small rule differences change hand values. For a wider overview, see our guide to lowball poker.

How the split works in stud hi-lo is covered in hi-low hands; for a four-card low game, see Badugi.

Razz in HORSE and at the WSOP

Razz is the R in HORSE, the rotation of Hold’em, Omaha hi-lo, Razz, seven-card stud and stud hi-lo. It also has a long WSOP history. Event #2 of the first WSOP tournament schedule in 1971 was a $1,000 Limit Razz event, won by Jimmy Casella, and Razz events are still on the series schedule.

Who Razz suits

Razz is a niche game next to Hold’em: less training material, fewer specialists and fewer tables. That cuts both ways.

Razz poker FAQ