Playing Razz Poker: Playing Razz Poker Part 1

PLAYING RAZZ POKER

PART 1 - INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

‘Razz isn’t a poker game, it’s a disease!’

Popular card room saying from the 1980s

Razz (or Razzle Dazzle, to give it its full, original, name) is a Seven-Card Stud poker game, in which the lowest hand wins.

As with most poker games, the exact origins of Razz are unknown, but it is clear that it wasn’t too long after the emergence of Seven Card Stud.

Razz was first played at the World Series of Poker™ (WSOP) in 1971, when the bracelet was won by Jimmy Casella; and it is one of only a few games to have been played at every WSOP since.

In 1992 Archie Karas, a poker player and pool shark born in Greece, turned up in Las Vegas with $50 in his pocket. He did not know it then, but he was only months away from one of the most significant events in Razz poker history. The story, as it is told, is that Archie ‘The Greek’ Karas ran his bankroll up from $50 to over $30k playing mostly Razz and finishing up in the $200/$400 Limit Razz game at Binion’s Horseshoe. He then spun his bankroll up from $30k to over $7m, playing pool and poker. Then, armed with $5m in chips, Archie sat at a heads-up table in Binion’s Horseshoe, with an open heads-up challenge to the worlds best poker players. The first man to challenge Archie was the great Stu Ungar (probably the best poker player who ever lived). Stu and Archie played heads-up Razz for several days until Archie had completely busted Stu, taking a total of $500k from him. It was the biggest heads-up Razz poker match the world had ever seen.

It wasn’t until 2004, that Razz experienced another popularity boom. The 2004 WSOP was televised by ESPN™, and won by poker legend T. J. Cloutier, after playing heads-up against the retarded Dutch Boyd. This sparked a reaction amongst the poker playing public, and several online poker sites added Razz to their selection of games.

Finally, in 2006, Pokerstars (www.pokerstars.co.uk) added Razz to the repertoire of games. Since then, Pokerstars has had the broadest selection of Razz tournaments and cash tables, available to play.

RULES

Razz is a Seven-Card Stud poker game, for two to eight Players, played with Antes and a Fixed Limit betting structure; in which the best Lowball Ace to Five Poker Hand, at showdown, wins the pot.

FIXED LIMIT BETTING STRUCTURE

Razz is played with antes and fixed betting limits.

One of the simplest formats for playing Razz uses the proportions 1:2:4:8. In this case the ante is the ‘1’, the bring-in (2) is double the ante, the Small Bet amount (4) is double the bring-in, and the Big Bet amount (8) is double the Small Bet amount. The game may also be played using a 2:5:10:20 betting structure.

SETUP

Each player places their ante into the pot.

THIRD STREET

Each player is dealt two Hole Cards face-down, and a Door Card face-up, this is known as Third Street. The player with the highest Door Card, must place the Bring-In (in the case of a tie, the Bring-in is decided by suit – in order from Lowest to Highest - Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades). All players may now look at their Hole Cards, and the first round of Betting is undertaken, clockwise from the Bring-In. A player may either call the Bring-in amount, or complete the betting, raising the Bring-in to the amount of one Small Bet.

FOURTH STREET

Each player is dealt a second face-up card, this known as Fourth Street. Now the player with the lowest open hand (i.e. looking only at the face-up cards) commences the second round of Betting, using the Small Bet amount.

FIFTH STREET

Each player is dealt a third face-up card, known as Fifth Street. Again, the Player with the lowest open hand commences the third round of Betting. From Fifth Street onwards, betting uses the Big Bet amount.

SIXTH STREET

Each player is dealt a fourth, and final, face-up card, known as Sixth Street, or the Turn. The Player with the lowest open hand commences the fourth round of betting, using the Big Bet amount.

SEVENTH STREET

Each Player is now dealt their last face-down card, known as Seventh Street, or the River.

NOTE

In the very unlikely event that all eight players at a table remain in the hand until Seventh Street, there will be insufficient cards in the deck to deal each player their River card. In this case, a single Community Card is dealt face-up in the middle of the table.

The Player with the lowest open hand commences the final round of betting, again using the Big Bet amount.

THE SHOWDOWN

After the last round of betting, if more than one player remains in the hand, there is a Showdown. The best Lowball Ace to Five Poker Hand wins the pot. If two or more players hold the same [best] hand, the Pot is split. The next Hand then commences.

RAZZ POKER HANDS – LOWBALL ACE-TO-FIVE

In Razz, players must try to make the best Lowball Ace-to-Five hand, in order to win the pot.

In a Lowball Ace-to-Five hand, Aces are the Lowest card (and always count low), and Straights and Flushes to not count against a low hand. The best hand possible, is A-2-3-4-5, hence the name – Ace-to-Five.

Pairs or Sets do not disqualify an Ace-to-Five hand, but they do significantly weaken it. The lowest pair possible is a pair of Aces. Fortunately, Quads cannot be made in Razz, as the worst possible hand is K-K-K-K-Q-Q-Q, which could still be played as three Queens and two Kings!

Razz hands tend to be declared by their highest card, or their highest card and kicker (second highest card) e.g. A-2-4-6-7 is a seven-high Razz hand, with a six kicker - this is often shortened to a ‘Seven-Six’.

Rough and Smooth Hands

A rough hand is one in which the kicker is consecutive with the highest card e.g. the hand A-2-3-7-8 is an eight-high with a seven kicker, or an ‘Eight-Seven’ – this is a Rough Eight, as the kicker is consecutive to the highest card.

A smooth hand is one in which the kicker is at least two cards less than the highest card e.g. A-2-3-4-8 is an eight-high with a four kicker, or an ‘Eight-Four’ – this is a Smooth Eight, as the kicker is much lower than the highest card.

Five-high Ace to Five, The Wheel, The Bicycle, The Nuts