The card game razz is an interesting variation of poker. If you do not know how to play razz poker, don't worry. The razz poker rules are fairly simple and straight forward. its a far less complex game than texas holdem and you will start to pick up the basics within hours. Many online card rooms such as full tilt offer this poker variation and is is becoming very popular.
The Razz poker setup is fairly similar to the game of Seven Card Stud although it is much easier to understand. The difference between the two is that in Razz Poker, you are trying to get the lowest possible 5 card low hand, as opposed to the high hand you would be trying to get in Stud. Assuming the players remain to the showdown, they will receive three cards face down (their first two cards and their final card) and four cards that will be face up for the other razz players to view.
Aces are always low in Razz, and straights and flushes do not count, nor do paired cards. Hence, the best possible hand in Razz is called a wheel, which is a straight comprised of A-2-3-4-5.
The hand will start with an ante, which is usually about 1/5 of a small bet. So if you are playing 50c/$1 Razz Game , the ante will be 10c. Each player is then dealt three cards, the first two of which come face down and the third coming face up.
After the deal, the player with the highest card must post what is called a buy in, which means he has to place the low-limit bet size into the pot. In our example of 50c/$1 Razz Game, the buy in would be 50c. If two people share the same rank of card, then the player closest to the left hand of the dealer has to post the buy in.
Once the buy in is posted into the pot, all players have the option to fold or cover the buy in, or push in a raise. Razz is generally played as a limit game, so amount that can actually be raised is limited to double the buy in. When the first round of betting is finished, all players who remain in the hand will collect a fourth card which will also be placed face up. The betting continues as in the previous round using the same betting increments.
Once the betting is complete a fifth card is shown, again face up. Now the betting size is increased to $1. This is usually when the card game razz gets more interesting, where the hands start to develop or fail to in some cases. This is where the bluffing and risk taking comes into full swing. All players remaining after this betting round will collect their sixth card, which is the final card to come face up. Another round of betting will continue in the same manner.
Finally the last card to complete the hands will be dealt. This time it is dealt face down. This will complete your razz poker hand. The final round of betting continues through to a showdown if their are more than one player left in the razz pot. The final person to bet will be the first person to show his or her hand and this continues clockwise.
So that in a nutshell is how to play razz. I must state that although the card game Razz seems fairly simple to pick up. Yes, the razz poker rules are, but once you get deeper into the game and want you want to know how to play razz poker with some of the high stakes players you will need to sharpen up on your observations of other players and their betting patterns. I suppose in a way it is no different from any other form of poker.
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