How to play Razz: the game where the worst hand wins.
Razz is the lowball version of Seven Card Stud — found in high-stakes mixed games, select WSOP events, and standalone cash games online. The lowest five-card hand wins, straights and flushes are ignored, and aces always play low. It's also one of poker's most frustrating games, which is exactly why disciplined players profit from it.
Read it backward. Lowest number wins.
The best possible Razz hand is A-2-3-4-5 — "the wheel." Straights and flushes don't count against you, and aces always play low. Four example hands, ranked best to worst.
To compare two Razz hands, read each backward as a 5-digit number — the lowest number wins. Straights and flushes never count against you.
How a hand plays out.
Razz follows Seven Card Stud's structure: antes instead of blinds, a bring-in, and seven cards across five betting rounds — four of them dealt face up for the whole table to see. The two structural quirks are highlighted.
Ante up
Every player posts an ante before the deal.
Third Street (the deal)
Two cards face down, one face up — the "door card." The highest door card must open with the "bring-in." Ties break by suit: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs.
Fourth Street
A second up card. From here on, the best low hand showing acts first and may check or bet.
Fifth Street
A third up card. In limit games, betting moves to the upper tier from this round forward (e.g., $10 in a $5/$10 game).
Sixth Street
A fourth up card, followed by another betting round at the higher limit.
Seventh Street (the river)
A final card face down, then the last betting round.
Showdown
Make your best five-card low from your seven cards. The lowest hand wins the pot.
Track every exposed card.
The single most important skill in Razz: watching every card dealt face up — including the ones in folded hands. Each player ultimately exposes four of their seven cards, so an enormous amount of information is sitting on the table. Toggle the example to see how dead cards change the same decision.
You need one more card 6 or lower (without pairing) to make a 7-high. The remaining 2s, 5s, and 6s.
Twelve outs on paper. But how many were already dealt face-up and folded? If you weren’t watching, you don’t know.
Three of your outs were dealt face-up and folded earlier. 9 live outs, not 12 — that difference fundamentally changes whether calling is profitable.
Starting hand guidelines.
Your three starting cards — two down, one up — decide everything. The standards are strict, and the door cards around the table tell you when to steal.
Play three cards 8 or lower with no pairs (e.g., A-3-5, 2-4-7).
Three cards 5 or lower is a premium starting hand worth raising.
Steal aggressively when your door card is lower than all opponents' up cards.
Fold any starting hand with a pair or two cards 9 or higher.
Check opponents' folded up cards before deciding. If all the low cards you need are dead, a marginal hand becomes unplayable.
Razz will try to tilt you.
Razz has a well-deserved reputation as one of poker's most frustrating games. In Hold'em, a bad beat means you had the best hand and lost. In Razz, you watch a beautiful A-2-3 deteriorate into A-2-3-J-Q-K across four streets of catching paint — and it happens routinely. The antidote is the math.
You lose this call 67 times out of 100 — and it’s still hugely profitable. Correct play means ignoring short-term results: put yourself in mathematically profitable spots and the results take care of themselves.
Worst hand wins. Best player profits.
Three low cards or fold.
Three cards 8 or lower with no pair is playable; three cards 5 or lower is a raise. A pair or two cards 9+ is an instant fold.
Watch every up card.
Dead cards decide whether your draw is profitable — 12 outs on paper can be 9 in reality. Track folded door cards like your bankroll depends on it, because it does.
Trust the math, not the runout.
You'll catch paint on perfect starts constantly. Keep making mathematically profitable calls, ignore short-term results, and profit from everyone who can't.