Razz, a Booming Online Poker Game
“Razz” is version of Ace to Five Lowball Poker that uses the same format as 7 Card Stud. The goal of Razz is to make the best five card low hand out of the seven cards dealt. With Razz being A-5 lowball the best possible hand is A-2-3-4-5, as neither straights nor flushes count against the hand. Razz has a long history, having been offered at the WSOP since 1973 in an event won by Sam Angel, and it is part of the mixed game H.O.R.S.E where the R stands for Razz.
Play Razz Online at PokerStars
“Razz” is now a popular game and is spread at the two largest online poker sites: PokerStars.com and Full Tilt Poker with plenty of action at each site. This wasn’t always the case, as despite having a rich history Razz did not become popular online until 2005. Perhaps the top reason for its popularity online in recent years comes from ESPN broadcasting a 2004 WSOP Razz final table on television. It was after this broadcast that most major online poker sites added it to their game offerings, and it was not long before Razz became many players game of choice.
Televised 2004 WSOP Razz Event: T.J Cloutier Tops Dutch Boyd
The 2004 Razz WSOP event that had a televised final table was a $1,500 buy-in event that attracted 195 entrants. Seven players made the television cut which included five men likely needing no introduction to poker enthusiasts: T.J. Cloutier, Howard Lederer, John Juanda, Hoyt Corkins and Dutch Boyd, along with an accomplished old timer and WSOP regular since 1988 John Spadavecchia, and a relatively unknown player named Abel Castellano. In the end it was T.J Cloutier holding off crew member Dutch Boyd to pick up his fifth career WSOP bracelet. T.J since added a sixth WSOP bracelet in 2005, and Dutch finally got the WSOP bracelet monkey off his back winning one in 2006.
As the television ratings soared for the WSOP, and ESPN replayed the Razz final table time and time again, many online poker rooms scrambled to get it added to their software. Initially, the only large poker room spreading the game was Full Tilt Poker, but in time it popped up at Poker.com, Games Grid (both no longer operating) Absolute Poker, and many smaller online poker sites, before the world’s largest online poker site PokerStars.com added it to their line up in 2006.
Razz Content Pages
Our website has quite a few pages on Razz with the most popular pages being:
Additional Reading can be found on the Razz Wiki Page and in our very own Razz advice guide.
Razz Now Part of a $50K Buy-in WSOP Event
While it was the Razz event of the 2004 WSOP, which had a final table televised and sparked the Razz poker boom, perhaps the moment that cemented its future as a main stream online poker game was the creation of a $50K buy-in WSOP H.O.R.S.E event in 2006. The first winner of this event was poker legend Chip Reese, who passed away unexpectedly in his sleep on December 4, 2007. After this occurred, Harrah’s announced that in tribute to Chip Reese, who had been a fixture on the poker circuit for many years, from 2008 onwards, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event winner at the World Series of Poker will receive a trophy named the “David ‘Chip’ Reese Award”. This trophy is prestigious and honors a legend much in the same way the National Football League (NFL) awards the Super Bowl winner the Vince Lombardi trophy each year.
With Razz a part of H.O.R.S.E, which is the most commonly populated mixed game table, both live and online, it is nearly certain Razz will be around for many years to come.
Related Reading: How To Deal Razz
