Rules of Poker · Chapter 52 · 2026 edition
Razz is Seven-Card Stud played for low: the lowest hand wins the whole pot, with no qualifier. The ace is always low, straights and flushes don't count, and the best hand is 5-4-3-2-A. It is the R in HORSE (Mixed games) and has been a World Series of Poker event since 1971.
Everything in 7-Card Stud applies unless this chapter says otherwise. Ace-to-five low rankings are in Hand rankings.
The examples use a $10/$20 game with a $1 ante and a $3 bring-in.
Razz uses the deck, the eight-player limit, antes, bet sizes and completing of Seven-Card Stud (50.1, 50.2, 50.5, 50.8). What changes is that every decision about which card or hand is "best" is turned upside down.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 9, "Seven-Card Stud Low (Razz)," rule 1; Wikipedia, Razz (poker).
Two down and one up, three more up, the last one down (50.3), with five betting rounds. When the deck runs out, the last card is a common card (50.4), and the player whose showing hand is now lowest, counting it, acts first.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 9, "Seven-Card Stud Low (Razz)," rule 1, and Section 8, rule 15.
On third street the player showing the highest door card must bring it in. The ace counts low, so a king is the worst card to show and an ace the best. A player showing the king of spades brings it in every time.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 9, "Seven-Card Stud Low (Razz)," rule 2; pagat.com, Seven Card Stud, "Razz".
When two players show the same highest rank, the higher suit brings it in, with suits ranked spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs from the top. The king of spades brings it in ahead of the king of hearts, and the queen of diamonds ahead of the queen of clubs. This is the stud suit order (50.7) read from the other end.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 9, "Seven-Card Stud Low (Razz)," rule 2, and Section 3, "Ties," rule 1; Wikipedia, Razz (poker).
On fourth, fifth and sixth street the player whose face-up cards make the lowest hand starts the betting. Showing hands are read as razz hands: the ace is low, any pair is worse than any unpaired cards, and unpaired cards compare from the highest down. A player showing 6-3 acts before one showing 7-2, and both act before one showing 4-4. On seventh street the new card is face down, so the player who started sixth street starts again.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 9, "Seven-Card Stud Low (Razz)," introduction and rule 2; Wikipedia, Razz (poker).
When two players show equal low hands, the first of them clockwise from the dealer acts first. Suits don't break this tie.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 9, "Seven-Card Stud Low (Razz)," rule 2.
Razz uses the small bet on third and fourth street and the big bet from fifth street on. Unlike Seven-Card Stud (50.14), a pair showing on fourth street gives nobody the option of the big bet.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 9, "Seven-Card Stud Low (Razz)," rule 3; pagat.com, Seven Card Stud, "Razz".
Your hand is the lowest five cards you can make from your seven, ranked ace-to-five (Hand rankings). The ace is always low, and straights and flushes don't count against you, so 5-4-3-2-A, the wheel, is the best hand even when it is all one suit. There is no qualifier: the lowest hand wins, even if it is K-Q-J-10-8.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 9, "Seven-Card Stud Low (Razz)," introduction; pagat.com, Seven Card Stud, "Razz".
Two razz hands are compared from the highest card down, as in high poker but in reverse: the hand whose highest card is lower wins, and if those match, the next card decides, and so on. 6-5-4-3-2 beats 7-4-3-2-A, because the 6 is lower than the 7; 7-5-4-3-2 beats 7-6-3-2-A, because the 5 is lower than the 6.
A hand with a pair loses to every hand with five different ranks, so a pair only matters when nobody has five unpaired cards. Then the lower pair wins, and two aces is the lowest pair.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 9, "Seven-Card Stud Low (Razz)," introduction; pagat.com, Poker hand ranking, "Ace to Five".
Two hands with the same five ranks tie and split the pot, whatever their suits. Suits decide who brings it in and who gets an odd chip, never who wins.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Ties," rule 1.
When a split razz pot leaves an odd chip, the rulebooks disagree. Robert's Rules treats razz as a low game, so the odd chip goes to the lowest card by suit, counting all of each player's cards. The TDA's 2026 rules give the odd chip in stud, razz and Stud/8 to the highest card by suit, looking only at the five cards each player plays. Example: two players split with 7-5-4-2-A; one holds the ace of clubs, the other the 7 of spades. Robert's Rules gives the chip to the ace of clubs; the TDA gives it to the 7 of spades.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Ties," rule 5(b); TDA 2026 Rules (Version 1.1), Rule 21-B.
In a card room the razz dealer announces each pair the first time it shows on the board, but never a pair of jacks, queens or kings. A home-game dealer following card-room practice does the same, so nobody should read the silence over a pair of kings as a mistake.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 9, "Seven-Card Stud Low (Razz)," rule 4.
Two other low stud games turn up in mixed games and home games. Deuce-to-seven razz ranks hands deuce-to-seven (Hand rankings), so straights and flushes count against you, the ace is high, and the best hand is 7-5-4-3-2. London lowball, played mostly in Europe and usually pot-limit, uses ace-to-six ranking, where straights and flushes count against you but the ace is low, so the best hand is 6-4-3-2-A.
Source: Wikipedia, Razz (poker), variants; pagat.com, Seven Card Stud, "London Lowball".
Rules of Poker, 2026 edition, by MyHomeGame. Free to copy and reuse with credit under CC BY 4.0. How to cite and reuse.