Razz it up!

Razz is a card game that I truly love but a lot of my friends despise. It is a seven card game where you want the worst possible hand. Straights and flushes do not count and the ace can be low.

The best hand is A, 2, 3, 4, 5 but it is of course hard to get. The play starts with everyone anteing and dealer, dealing out two cards down and one card up to each player. The player with the lowest card starts the action and they can check or bet. If there are two people with the same value card, the closest going clockwise from the dealer starts. After the betting round, each player left gets another card face up. Then more betting starts by the lowest hand showing and then another card is turned up to each player left. Betting again and then the final card face up. Betting once, more and then a card is dealt face down to each player and then the final round of betting. Worst hand wins.

Sounds easy but it’s the up cards that cause the strategy. If I have A, 2, 3, 4 showing then my hand is looking very ominous. I could easily have 2, 3, 3 as my down cards and have a 2, 2, 4, 3, 1 as my low. Pairs are bad of course because anyone with a hand like K, Q, J, 10, 9 beat me as they have no pair. So, I can bet my hand hard and get people to fold their better hands. Or, if I am betting and the guy across is showing K, K , A, 3 and is still calling my bets, I am pretty sure he has really low cards down. When people ask what you have for a low, you start at your highest card unless you have a pair. So with 7, 6, 5, 2, A, I would say I have a 7 for a low or 76 if I wanted to say my top 2. If my opponent has 7, 6, 4, 3, 2 he would win because his third card (the 4) is lower than my third card (the 5).

Razz can be hard for some to learn but a rule of thumb for me is if I have a 64 or lower, I am definitely betting unless someone’s hand looks scary to me and if I have a 76 or lower, I am definitely calling. So throw a little razz into your game and give this one a try. You will either hate it or love it.