One of the keys to being a strong Razz Poker player is to know which hands are playable and which are not. The following shows the kinds of starting hands you'll want to play:


Winning Hands at Razz : 

No Pair - The lower the card topping the hand, the better the hand. As in high games, when the top cards are tied, the next card is compared; when the top two cards are tied, the third card is compared; and so on. In this case, the lowest hand wins. These are the best of the best:

• Wheel. Examples: 5 4 3 2 A; 5 4 3 2 A (straights and flushes don't count)
• 6-4: Examples: 6 4 3 2 A; 6 4 3 2 A
• 6-5-3-2-A
• 6-5-4-2-A
• 6-5-4-3-A
• 6-5-4-3-2
• 7-4-3-2-A
• 7-5-3-2-A

Examples of what beats what:

• 7-5-3-2-A beats 7-6-3-2-A
• 8-7-3-2-A beats 8-7-4-2-A
• 9-8-7-6-4 beats 9-8-7-6-5
• K-Q-3-2-A beats K-Q-7-6-A

One Pair - Any hand with no pair beats any hand with a pair. If you started with the best one-card draw in our lowball game, 4 3 2 A A—from which you would discard an ace and hope for a 5 or 6—and drew another ace, your hand would be worse than the otherwise very terrible hand K-Q-J-10-9. When two hands both contain one pair, the hand with the lower side cards wins. Here are two examples:

• K Q J 10 9 beats 4 3 2 A A
• 2 2 4 3 A beats 2 2 5 3 A

Two Pair - Any hand containing two pair is worse than any one-pair or no-pair hand. When two hands both contain the same two pair, the hand with the lower side card or kicker wins.
For example, 3 3 2 2 6 beats 3 3 2 2 8.

Worse Hands - You rarely see worse hands than two pair in contention for a pot, but it does sometimes happen in Razz. Obviously two hands cannot both contain the same three of a kind, full house, or four of a kind, but you could, for example, in unusual circumstances, see three of a kind against three of a kind at the showdown. So, in order:

• Three of a kind beats a worse three of a kind or any full house or four of a kind.
• A full house beats a worse full house or four of a kind.
  For example, 2 2 2 5 5 beats 3 3 3 A A.
• Four of a kind is the worst you can get in lowball or razz.

Hand Rankings
5432A
6432A
6532A
6542A
6543A
65432
7432A
7543A
7542A
7532A
7642A
7643A
76432
7652A
7653A
76532
7654A
76542
76543
8432A
8543A
8542A
8532A
8642A
8643A
86432
8652A
8653A
86532
8654A
86542
86543

Play Razz online today at Full Tilt Poker or Poker Stars.