Razz is similar to Seven-Card Stud – or the opposite, depending on your point of view. The structure of the game is the same, but instead of making the best possible hand of five-card poker seven cards, the goal is to make the worst hand possible. Straights and flushes have no classification and the lowest hand wins the pot. Aces are always low, so the best possible hand is A-2-3-4-5. You are not allowed to include couples in the five-card hand.
- Just as in Seven-Card Stud, the game begins with all players putting an ante. Each player is dealt three cards, two face down and one face up. In Razz, the player with the highest card must make the first bet (as opposed to the one with the lowest card in Seven Card Stud).
- Unlike Texas Holdem and Omaha, there are no fixed positions in Razz and Stud. The players act clockwise in the first round beginning with the player who placed the first bet. The first bet is about half of a small bet, but it is also allowed to make a first bet normal.
- The first player to the left of what made the first bet can choose to fold, call (the same amount of the first bet, or raise. The next player in turn may fold, call (the first bet or the ‘ amount raised), raise (an unraised pot), or raise again (do another revival of an old one.) All other players have the same options.
- When the first betting round is completed, all the remaining players are dealt a further card. Now the player showing the lowest card starts another round of betting, which works in the same way the first (without the first bet).
- This is followed by two more cards face up with another round of betting for each card. Finally, is dealt a seventh card face down, followed by the last round of betting. If two or more players are still in the hand until the end of the round, there will be a showdown. The player with the lowest hand (five poker hands) wins the pot.