{"id":10540,"date":"2023-01-12T17:47:21","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T17:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.coinpoker.com\/?p=10540"},"modified":"2024-10-08T08:19:09","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T08:19:09","slug":"razz-poker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/razz-poker\/","title":{"rendered":"Razz Poker \u2013 What Is It, How to Play, and What to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The popularity of Razz poker is definitely on the rise, and if you know how to play the Seven-Card Stud, you\u2019ll be well ahead of the game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But before you sit down to play, you should know about all the betting rules, strategies, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/help\/poker-hands-ranking-chart\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hand rankings<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. So without further ado, let\u2019s jump into it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Is Razz Poker?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes referred to as Seven-Card Razz, Razz poker is a stud variant first made popular a few decades ago. Even though the popularity waned a bit during the 90s and 00s, it\u2019s now being played more than ever thanks to the rise of mixed games and H.O.R.SE.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two to eight players can play Razz, and there are no flop or community cards in the game, just like with Seven-Card Stud. But unlike it, the objective in Razz is to make the lowest possible five-card hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some other differences between the two games include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to decide the winning hand at a showdown<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The player who brings in the action at the start of the first round<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The player who starts the action in any round<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other important things to remember before we go on are that aces are low, straights and flushes don\u2019t count as playable hands, and there is no 8 or better rule. You should also know that if all other players at the table fold, and there\u2019s only one active player left, they automatically win the pot at the end of the hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Razz games are usually played in a fixed, limited betting structure. However, you can still play with a pot-limit or no-limit betting structure.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hand Rankings<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once the final betting round has been completed, the players still in hand go to the showdown.\u00a0 As we mentioned, the goal of Razz is to make the best five-card hand possible out of the seven cards you were dealt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The remaining two cards in the hand are dead and don\u2019t contribute any value toward the hand. They are never used to evaluate the strength of the hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The last person who bet or raised has to show their cards first. If no one bets in the final round, the player in seat one (or closest to seat one) has to show first. From then on, all remaining active players have to show their hands, going clockwise around the table.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The player that has the best five-card low will win the entire pot and there\u2019s no qualifying hand. Here\u2019s how to check who has the winning Razz hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Best Hand<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A player can win a hand of Razz by holding the \u201cworst\u201d hand at the table. Since straights and flushes don\u2019t count, the absolute best hand possible is the lowest straight or the wheel. That is the A-2-3-4-5 sequence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if a player has two pairs or higher, if it\u2019s the lowest hand on the table, it\u2019s the winner. That\u2019s thanks to the fact that there\u2019s no qualifier for the winning hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Razz poker, hands are evaluated from the highest card down. That means A-2-3-4-8 would lose to 3-4-5-6-7.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And if two players have the same winning hand, the pot gets split between them. Suits aren\u2019t taken into account for the winning hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gameplay<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that you know what it takes to win a hand of Razz poker, let\u2019s talk about what a typical game might look like. Just as in Seven-Card Stud, players in Razz are all dealt up to seven cards each.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the first three cards are dealt to every player, and the betting begins, every player still in hand gets another exposed card. The first player to act again is the player with the lowest exposed hand. Then, there\u2019s another round of betting, and after the fifth card is dealt, the person with the lowest exposed card goes first and they can check or bet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The process continues onto the sixth deal, and when it comes to the final one, the last card gets dealt face down to all remaining players. After all of that, of course, comes the showdown.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Antes, Betting, and Bring-in<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just like in Seven-Card Stud, Razz poker utilizes antes and bring-in bets to stimulate action. The only difference between the two games is how you decide where the action starts for the hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Stud, the player that has the highest-valued show cards will start the action. But in Razz, that task falls to the player with the lowest-valued cards or the best Razz hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since pairs have a high value, the person holding K-Q has a better hand than a player with 2-2. Remember, a hand is only as low as the value of its highest card.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strategy<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that you know the ground rules of Razz poker, it\u2019s time to talk strategy. First of all, consider that the best-starting hand is A-2-3, and if you get it, you\u2019re off to a great start. But that\u2019s only the beginning. 8-low is usually the cut-off point for a good starting Razz hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Razz, you should also take advantage of checks. If your opponent checks with a low-exposed card, there\u2019s a good chance that their hole cards aren\u2019t that good. You can use this to your advantage and try to take the entire pot. Even if you get check-raised, you\u2019ll still have learned information about other players\u2019 cards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As in other <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/help\/poker-cheat-sheet\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">poker variants<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, try not to go against the odds. By fifth street, you and the other players should have a good idea about what\u2019s happening at the table. Let\u2019s say that you had an excellent starting hand, but you get a high card on fifth street, while your opponents have low door cards. At that moment, it might be best to fold and just cut your losses.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To Sum Up<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hopefully, we\u2019ve helped you figure out how to play Razz poker and the strategies to remember before starting a game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you want to know more about other poker variants, like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/games\/texas-holdem\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Texas Hold\u2019Em<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/games\/omaha-holdem\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Omaha<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/open-face-chinese-poker\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Open-Face Chinese<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, join CoinPoker. We have tons of helpful guides, strategies, and tools to help you level up your game. Our RNG tool guarantees a fair shuffle, and we have promotions and tournaments for all players to enjoy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/download\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Download CoinPoker today and start having the best games of your life!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The popularity of Razz poker is definitely on the rise, and if you know how to play the Seven-Card Stud, you\u2019ll be well ahead of the game. But before you sit down to play, you should know about all the betting rules, strategies, and hand rankings. So without further ado, let\u2019s jump into it. What <a href=\"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/razz-poker\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Razz Poker \u2013 What Is It, How to Play, and What to Know<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":10541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97527,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10540\/revisions\/97527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}