Razz Poker, an exciting form of Stud Poker

Razz is a form of stud poker that also goes by the name lowball poker. In the game, players compete to form the lowest hand. Razz Poker is the third poker discipline contested in HORSE tournaments and is a favorite game of many of the top poker professionals like Doyle Brunson, who regularly plays Razz in very high stakes cash games in the Bellagio.

Razz is very similar in structure and rules to 7 Card Stud. In Razz, seven cards are dealt to each player and the lowest hand wins.

Razz is dealt the same way as all of the other Stud games. Each player receives two down cards and a face-up card to start followed by four further face-up cards and one final down card.

Straights and flushes do not count for anything in Razz. The very best hand you can have is a wheel, or A-2-3-4-5. Other players cannot possibly have a lower hand. If one of your cards was a seven instead of the five you would have a “seven low” hand and could be beaten by A-2-3-4-5 or A-2-3-4-6.

Razz is a fixed limit poker game. Aces are always low, and therefore, kings are the highest possible cards.

With a betting round on each street you can see that a good knowledge of pot odds and implied odds are very important. Razz is staged as a limit game in order to avoid every player being all-in by the fourth or five street of action.

Often dismissed as a game of luck, Razz poker demands that the player understands the odds associated with hitting the lowest hand and they must take into account the cards held by opponents that are face up.