Razz Poker Rules
Razz Poker is played with a maximum of 8 players.
As in seven-card stud, all players initially post a pre-determined ante.They are then dealt two down cards,
known as hole cards, and one up card, known as the door card.
The door card determines who starts the betting.The player with the highest door card is forced to place a bring-in bet of
1/3 to 1/2 of the minimum bet.For instance, if you are playing $1.50/$3.00 Razz Poker, the bring-in bet will
be between $.50 and $.75. This is where Razz Poker Rules first differ from seven-card stud, where in stud, the player
with the lowest door card is forced to place the bring-in bet. The king of spades is the highest card in Razz, as aces are low, and suits
rank spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs from highest to lowest. Some rules differ, where in cases of two or more players having a
door card of equal rank, the player closest to the left of the dealer places the bring-in. After the bring-in is placed,
the first round of betting continues clockwise.
Razz is typically played as a limit game, meaning that there is a fixed amount
that can be bet per player per round. Once this is complete, the fourth card is dealt face up to the remaining players
and betting begins with the player with the lowest hand showing (see below).Play continues in this manner with the
fifth and sixth cards being dealt face up, and the seventh card dealt face down.Frequently, the betting limit increases
after the fifth card is dealt.
The rules of hand ranking in Razz Poker are quite simple. The best possible hand in traditional Razz is A-2-3-4-5.
This qualifies as a low ranked hand because straights and flushes are ignored
in this game.Razz Poker Rules also require a low to be composed of 5 different ranked cards, with no pairs.A-2-2-4-5 does not count as a low.
Razz hands are ultimately ranked by the lowest high card in your hand at showdown. While A-2-3-4-5 is the best possible hand (the royal flush of razz), A-3-5-6-7 beats A-2-3-4-8 because
7 is lower than 8, even though the second hand seems to have lower cards.