Razz Poker Hand Rankings

This guide to razz poker will talk about razz poker hands and how they rank in the game. We will explain which are the most powerful razz hands and what ones are the weakest during showdown. When it comes down to it, this topic is not very complex and if you have ever played 7 card stud lo, then you will have an even easier time figuring this out. Also, it is good advice to read, learn and understand the ranking concepts while also learning the rules if you are beginner at this game. Then actually practice playing for free to get a good grasp of the materials.

First of all, the most powerful hand that you can make in razz poker is a lowball straight or the wheel. This is the hand: A-2-3-4-5. Aces are low and the goal is to make the lowest hand possible. Do not worry about straights or flushes since they do not apply in this game. That means if you had a straight flush, this would not alter the rank of the hand. This is pretty much the royal flush of razz.

The second strongest hand is an A-2-3-4-6 hand. Remember, straights do not matter so you are just trying to collect the lowest cards possible. This is the best way to remember how to rank your hands.

Now a good way to remember which hands rank better is to recall that all hands with a 6 high will beat all hands of 7 high. All 7 high hands beat 8 high hands. Then just keep moving up until queen high beats king high. Remember that when I say 7 high for example, all of your cards in your five card hand should be equal to 7 or less.

As an example, picture that there are two hands: A-2-3-6-8 and A-2-5-6-8. Which razz hand would win? Each hand has an Ace, 2, 6, and 8. The first hand has a three low, which is lower than the 5 in the second hand, so the first one would be strongest and would win.

If you have a pair though, this can really damage you and this is not wanted. For example, if there are two hands: A-2-3-7-7 and 7-8-9-10-K, the hand with a king would beat out the first hand. This is because the pair of sevens would only count as a single seven and your four card hand would always lose to a five card hand. Luckily, you are dealt out 7 cards in a razz poker game so you do have other cards which could be used unless you had four of a kind sevens, which does not work well at all in this game.

That pretty much sums it up. The goal is to just "collect" the lowest cards possible and not worry about straights, flushes, pairs and etc. The best way to learn the ranking system is to actually practice the game. Check out the poker rooms below to play razz with practice chips and then move up to real money.