Learn To Play Razz Poker
For many people who play poker online, the variety of games can be dizzying. While Texas Hold Em and Omaha are well known and shown on TV, what is HORSE or Crazy Pineapple, anyway? This piece goes into Razz, a popular poker game that many pros use as a chance to keep their playing sharp between tournaments because the different rules keep them engaged as a player instead of as an expert.
The object of Razz poker is for a player to make the lowest five-card hand possible from the seven cards they are dealt. In Razz games, straights and flushes do not count against you for low and the Ace will always be considered the lowest card. The best possible hand for a player to hold in Razz is 5-4-3-2-A. This five-high hand is known as “the wheel” and “the bicycle” by players.
Razz is played with a maximum of eight people and in general, the betting is limited. After each player antes, two cards are dealt face-down and then once face-up. The face-up card is known as “the door card.” The highest door card showing has to “bring it in” - put in the mandatory first bet, which is usually one third to half of the regular bet. In a case where two people have a door card of the same rank, the bring in is determined by suit: Spades first, then Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs. Betting begins with the lowest card showing and play continues until the fifth card, at which point the betting amounts double. The seventh card is dealt to players face-down and action begins on the same player who opened the previous card’s round. After each hand the deal rotates to the left, as with most forms of poker.
Because of the different way that cards are played and dealt, Razz represents a challenge that gives fans of hold em poker games a chance to expand their horizons and exercise new decision-making skills related to a game that is similar in some ways, yet very different in others.
