Most poker players spend their lives chasing the best hand. Razz flips that instinct on its head: here, the worst hand wins. It’s the lowball stud game hidden inside mixed rotations like H.O.R.S.E. and 8-Game, and because so few players study it, a little knowledge goes a long way. Here are the rules, hand rankings, and the strategy that separates winners from Hold’em players lost at sea.
What is Razz?
Razz is a form of seven-card stud played for the lowest hand (ace-to-five lowball). You’re dealt seven cards over the hand and make your best five-card low. Two rules make it click:
- Aces are always low — the best card in the game.
- Straights and flushes don’t count against you. They’re simply ignored.
So the best possible hand is 5-4-3-2-A, known as “the wheel” or “the bicycle.” Because there’s no “eight-or-better” qualifier like in Stud Hi-Lo, any hand can win — a queen-low beats a paired hand.
How a hand is ranked
Compare low hands from the highest card down: the lower your highest card, the better. 8-7-4-3-2 beats 8-7-5-3-2 (the comparison moves to the third card, where a 4 beats a 5). Pairs are poison — any unpaired hand beats a paired one. A quick pecking order of strong hands: the wheel (5-high), then 6-4-3-2-A (6-high), then 7-lows, and so on.
The betting structure, street by street
Razz is almost always fixed-limit, with an ante and a bring-in rather than blinds.
- Third street: everyone antes and gets two hole cards plus one face-up “door card.” The player showing the highest card must post the bring-in (the opposite of stud high). A king is the worst possible door card.
- Fourth through seventh street: one more card each round. From fourth street on, the lowest exposed board acts first. Bets are the small size on third and fourth street, then double to the big size from fifth street onward.
- Showdown: the lowest five-card hand wins. The cap is typically one bet plus three raises per street.
Razz strategy that actually works
1. Starting-hand discipline is everything
This is where most money is lost at low stakes. Only enter with three unpaired cards, all 8 or lower. A hand like K-9-7 feels playable because two cards are low, but starting with a king is a big disadvantage from street one. The tighter you are on third street, the fewer trouble spots you’ll pay off later.
2. Read the up-cards — and track dead cards
You can see four of your opponents’ seven cards. Use them. A promising 7-3-2 loses value if several low cards you need are already showing as other players’ up cards (they’re “dead”), making your draw harder. Great Razz players constantly note which low cards are gone.
3. Steal antes and bring-ins
A huge chunk of Razz profit comes from stealing. If it folds to you and you show a lower card than the bring-in, raising is often correct even with mediocre hole cards — a player showing a king can rarely continue. Position and the lowest visible card give you the leverage.
4. Know when you’re drawing dead — or locked
Because so much is face-up, you can sometimes have a mathematical lock. If by sixth street you already hold 6-4-3-2-A and your opponent’s best possible draw can’t beat a 6-low, you bet every street. Conversely, fold busted draws rather than paying off to the river.
Why learning Razz pays
Razz is a required leg of mixed games at the World Series of Poker (the “R” in H.O.R.S.E.), and it’s precisely the round where casual players leak chips. A modest amount of study — tight starting hands, reading dead cards, disciplined steals — can turn the Razz rounds into your most profitable. If you’re expanding your stud knowledge, compare it with our guides to Mexican stud and poker showdown rules.
Bottom line
Razz is seven-card stud in reverse: aces low, straights and flushes ignored, and 5-4-3-2-A the nuts. Win by folding weak third-street hands, tracking exposed and dead cards, stealing aggressively when you show low, and never paying off when you’re beaten. Master those habits and one of poker’s most overlooked variants becomes one of its most beatable.
