Over the past week or so, we have added about 20 guides related to razz poker and I will go through some of the basics here on the blog and post a link to each of the articles. That way you can visit these pages and have access to all the other guides as well. The first thing we will talk about is the razz poker rules and how to play razz. I wrote a rules guide about a year ago but I decided to update it with better information.

Basically, the rules of razz is pretty straight forward. The game works just like 7 card stud played for a low pot. The goal is to make the strongest 5 card hand out of 7 total cards. The strongest cards are actually the lowest. The rules state that aces are counted as low and that the most powerful hand in razz is an ace low straight, known as the wheel (A-2-3-4-5).

The rules also say that straights and flushes do not count for anything. They neither harm or benefit your hand and are simply worth nothing. Even though the wheel is a straight, it is not the straight that actually makes it powerful, but just the low cards. Pairs of cards actually harm your hand since you must discard one of the pair cards. The second strongest hand is A-2-3-4-6 and the worst hand you can get is 9-10-J-Q-K.

Before the game, each player must pay a small ante before being dealt any cards. When players are first dealt their 3 cards, two of them will be faced down and are known as hole cards that only you can see. The third card is facing up, known as the door card. Whoever has the lowest ranking door card (king, queen, etc.) will be the one who must pay the bring-in bet. They must either pay this bet or fold. If they pay, they will be the first to bring in action and each player will begin taking turns betting.

After this is done, a 4th card will be dealt followed by another round a betting and then a 5th and 6th card each followed by rounds of betting. These cards will also be open cards or facing up. Finally, the 7th and last card will be dealt facing down so only the player can see the card. One more round of betting will take place before the showdown where the winner of the hand is determined. There are many strategies to take advantage of when dealing with these up cards that all the players can see so read more about it in the guides. I will also explain a few here on the blog later on.