Play Razz Online at Full Tilt Poker
Razz is a lowball poker game that uses 7 Card Stud structure. The only difference between Razz and 7 Card Stud is that the lowest hand wins the pot in Razz as opposed to the highest hand. The game has been around quite some time; in fact, Razz was part of the first ever World Series of Poker in 1971 when Jimmy Casella became the first ever Razz tournament champion picking up a WSOP gold bracelet. Each year since, Razz has been on the schedule, and several former WSOP Main Event winners also have Razz WSOP bracelets, including Doyle Brunson, Huck Seed and Tom McEvoy.
Today, without a doubt Razz is the most popular form of lowball poker online. This wasn’t always the case however, as prior to 2003 Razz was not even offered at online poker sites, nor was the game spread much outside of high stake poker tournaments in Las Vegas or high stakes poker ring games in Los Angeles. This all changed when online poker players were introduced to Razz in 2004 due to ESPN televising a Razz Poker final table for the first time. With a final table that saw T.J. Cloutier up his fifth (of now six) career WSOP bracelets while topping Howard Lederer, John Juanda, Hoyt Corkins and Dutch Boyd, it’s no wonder this broadcast was such a success. This of course led ESPN to air it over and over again.
Full Tilt Poker took advantage of the exposure ESPN was giving to Razz as well as to their team pros Howard Lederer and John Juanda, by adding it to their software in 2004. While other sites have since added Razz Poker, Full Tilt Poker has more traffic at Razz than any other online poker site. To get a $600 sign up bonus at Full Tilt, register using Referral Code TILTME600.
Razz is the R in H.O.R.S.E
Razz is part of the game H.O.R.S.E which is a combination of five different poker games: Holdem, Omaha Hi Lo, Razz, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi Lo. Razz is the game new players tend to struggle with the most, however advanced players are quick to pick it up.
If you’ve never played Razz before, then you’ll find it’s virtually exactly the same as 7 Card Stud, apart from the fact that Razz uses lowball poker hand rankings.
Ace to Five Hand Rankings System
Razz uses the ace to five hand rankings system in order to rank hands at showdown. This system dictates that the best possible holding is A-2-3-4-5. Straights don’t count for anything when using ace to five rankings, and neither do flushes. The aim is to make the lowest hand you possibly can. Note: your highest card will be used to rank you hand first, so A-2-3-4-7 will always lose to 2-3-4-5-6.
How To Play Razz
Learning how to play Razz is fairly simple. The game uses antes which are posted by all players before the start of any hand. Each player then receives three cards, two face down (known as hole cards) and one face up (known as the door card). The player with the highest door card on show then brings in the action, and the player to his or her left acts first, with play moving around the table in a clockwise direction.
A round of betting takes place, and remaining players move forward to what is known as fourth street. Fourth street starts with players getting dealt another card face up. Now it is the turn of the person with the strongest hand on display to act first. A round of betting takes place, and remaining players move on to fifth street. The same happens on fifth street, players get dealt another card face up, the lowest hand acts first, and a round of betting commences. Sixth street is exactly the same as fifth, but once players reach seventh street things change slightly. Seventh street starts with players getting dealt one final card, but this time it’s face down, a round of betting takes place, which is then followed by a showdown.
Play Razz Online
If you’re looking to play Razz online, there is not too much choice as to where to play. While some sites such as UB, AP, Stars and Carbon offer it, the game traffic is rather low. At Full Tilt Poker, you’ll find heads up Razz cash tables which aren’t in operation on the other sites mentioned, and you’ll also find full ring games, sit and goes, heads up sit and goes, and multi-player-tournaments in razz format all with a decent traffic volume.
To play Razz online, visit the Full Tilt Poker website.
