Inspired by Medtrans (thank you), I thought I should post the rules for the game of Razz.
Razz is a form of stud
poker that is normally played for ace-to-five low (lowball poker).
The object of Razz is to make the lowest possible five-card hand from the seven cards you are dealt. In Razz, straights and flushes do not count against the player for low, and the ace usually plays low. Thus, the best possible Razz hand is 5-4-3-2-A, or 5 high, also known as "the wheel" or "the bicycle". Deuce-to-seven Razz is also sometimes played.
Razz is similar to seven-card stud, except the lowest hand wins. Seven cards are dealt, but only the best five are used in forming a complete hand.
Razz is usually played with a maximum of eight players, with limit betting, meaning that there is a fixed amount that can be bet per player per round. Each player antes and is dealt two cards face down (the hole cards), and one card face up (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 one half of the regular bet. The player responsible for the bring-in can instead opt to "complete the bet", i.e. make a whole regular bet. If he opts to make a normal bring-in, the remaining players can either call his bet or "complete", by raising to a regular bet. From that point the betting continues in regular bet increments.
In a case where two people have a door card of the same rank, the bring in is determined by suit. Spades (♠) is the highest possible suit, followed by hearts (♥), diamonds (♦), and clubs (♣). The K♠ is the worst possible door card in Razz, and a guaranteed bring-in. Play continues clockwise from the bring in, as in normal Stud poker. After the first round of betting, each player still in the hand receives another card face up. Betting begins with the lowest hand showing. Play continues like this until the fifth card, at which point the betting increments double. The seventh card is dealt face down, and action would begin with the same player who opened betting on the 6th card. In hand-dealt games, after each hand the deal rotates to the left, as with most forms of poker; although the dealer doesn't play a strategic role as in blind games.
Shortage of cards
In rare situations, a dealer may run out of cards in the middle of play when the maximum of 8 players are in play. This occurs when all 8 players are still present before the 7th and final card is about to be dealt and no one has folded. 7 cards for 8 players would require 56 cards in the deck. Since Razz uses a standard 52 card deck, the game would be 4 cards short.
In order to fix this problem, the dealer will deal the last card into the center of the table face up instead of face down and this card will count as a community card. Everyone at the table will use this one card as part of their own hand. This is also the only time a community card is ever used.
Thanks to wikipedia for these rules; I hope they give you an idea of the game.
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United States of America read Americas Cardroom review.
