Razzdugi

It’s like Razz, except there’s a second hand to make out of the same cards

Razz is seven-card stud for the lowest hand: ace-to-five, straights and flushes ignored, whole pot to the winner. Razzdugi keeps all of that and adds a second contest. Half the pot goes to the best Razz hand. The other half goes to the best badugi, which is the best four cards that are all different ranks and all different suits.

You choose each hand from the same seven cards. A pair that ruins your Razz hand might not matter to your badugi. Three of your four best low cards being the same suit might ruin your badugi and have no effect on your Razz hand.

30-second cheat sheet

• Deal and betting are Razz: antes, two down, one up, three more up, one last down. Five streets, limit.
• Razz half: best five-card A-5 low. Ace low, straights and flushes ignored, pairs hurt. Best: A-2-3-4-5.
• Badugi half: best four cards of four different suits and four different ranks. Ace low. Best: A-2-3-4 in four suits.
• Neither half has a qualifier. If nobody has a full four-card badugi, the best three-card badugi (then two-card, then one) wins it. Both halves always get awarded.
• One player can scoop. Ties split.
• The highest door card brings it in on third street, K♠ the automatic one. The lowest razz board acts first on later streets.

Full rules

The deal and the bring-in

Everyone antes. Two cards down, one up. The player showing the highest door card (ace low, so king is highest) posts the bring-in. Ties are broken by suit, with spades highest, so K♠ always brings it in. The bring-in player may instead complete to a full small bet.

Street by street

1. Third street. Bring-in, then clockwise action. Small bet.
2. Fourth street. Everyone still in gets one up card. The player whose up cards make the lowest Razz hand acts first. Small bet. An open pair on fourth street doesn’t change the bet size.
3. Fifth street. Another up card. Lowest razz board acts first. Big bet from here.
4. Sixth street. Another up card. Lowest razz board acts first. Big bet.
5. Seventh street. The last card comes face down. Lowest razz board acts first. Big bet. Then showdown.

Check-raise is allowed, and stud misdeal rules apply. Up to eight players.

Razz half

Your best five of seven under A-5 rules: ace low, straights and flushes don’t count against you, pairs do. A-2-3-4-5 is the best. You compare from the top card down. There’s no qualifier, so the lowest hand takes this half however ugly it is.

Badugi half

Pick the best group of up to four of your seven cards, where every card has a different rank and a different suit. Ace is low. More cards beat fewer: a four-card badugi, however high, beats any three-card hand. If nobody has four, the best three-card badugi wins. If nobody has three, the best two-card, and so on. Among badugis with the same number of cards, compare from the highest card down, and the lowest wins. The best possible hand is A-2-3-4 in four different suits.

Winning

Both halves are always awarded. You can win either, both, or neither. A scoop needs both: for example, A-2-3-4 in four suits plus a 5 of any suit. The WSOP rules note that most pots are split between the best badugi and the best Razz hand.

Ties for a half split that half. The odd chip goes to the Razz hand, because there is no true five-card hand in badugi.

Rooms disagree

• Which badugi? This game uses ace-low badugi, with A-2-3-4 as the nuts. Don’t mix it up with Razzdeucey, which uses ace-high and 2-7 lowball.
• The bring-in. BARGE spells out K♠. The WSOP just says it’s dealt like Razz.
• The name. Haney calls the A-5 Razz-plus-badugi game “Razzdacey” and says it used to be called “Super Razzdugi”. WSOP, BARGE, Card Player Lifestyle and The Festival all say “Razzdugi”.
• The “super” version. Haney says Razzdugi and Razzdeucey are “usually played as ‘super’” in low and medium-stakes mixed games. In the super version you’re dealt four hole cards and one up card, bet, then throw away two before fourth street. None of the rule sources (WSOP, BARGE) gives an official “Super Razzdugi” procedure, so this page covers the standard deal only. See Super Stud for the shared discard idea.
• Action Razzdugi. BARGE 2.3 lists a version where the razz half needs a jack, queen or king among your seven cards to qualify (see Action Razz). The badugi half doesn’t.

Worked examples

Great Razz, terrible badugi

A suited wheel is a monster razz hand and a junk badugi

Alice

• Razz low (A-5):5-4-3-2-A low✓ wins
• Badugi:3-card K-Q-A

Bob

• Razz low (A-5):9-6-3-2-A low
• Badugi:6-3-2-A badugi✓ wins

Alice takes half · Bob takes half

Alice has A-2-3-4-5, all spades. That’s the best Razz hand there is, so she wins the Razz half. But her badugi is awful: with one suit repeated she can only take one spade, plus the king of diamonds and the queen of clubs. That’s a three-card hand. Bob has A♥ 2♦ 3♣ 6♠, a four-card badugi, so he wins that half. His Razz hand is nine-low and loses.

The scoop

A-2-3-4 in four suits plus a 5 takes both halves

Alice

• Razz low (A-5):5-4-3-2-A low✓ wins
• Badugi:4-3-2-A badugi✓ wins

Bob

• Razz low (A-5):6-5-3-2-A low
• Badugi:5-3-2-A badugi

Alice scoops the whole pot.

Alice has A-2-3-4 in four different suits and a 5 of hearts. That’s the nut badugi and the wheel for Razz, from the same seven cards. Bob has a good six-low and a five-high badugi, but A-2-3-4 beats 5-3-2-A at the top card.

Nobody has four suits

Nobody has four suits, so a three-card badugi beats a two-card one

Alice

• Razz low (A-5):9-8-7-4-3 low
• Badugi:3-card Q-7-3✓ wins

Bob

• Razz low (A-5):5-4-3-2-A low✓ wins
• Badugi:2-card 5-A

Alice takes half · Bob takes half

Alice has only spades, diamonds and hearts, so the best she can make is three cards: Q♠ 7♥ 3♦. Bob only has clubs and diamonds, so his best is two cards. A three-card badugi beats a two-card one, so Alice wins that half. Bob has A-2-3-4-5, so he takes the Razz half.

How you’ll embarrass yourself

• Ignoring suits. In plain Razz, suits don’t matter. In Razzdugi a repeated suit kills your badugi.
• Expecting one winner. The pot is always in two halves. Even a junk three-card badugi can win its half.
• Forgetting you don’t need both. A hand that’s strong for only one half can be worth playing for half the pot.
• Overvaluing suited low cards. A-2-3-4 of one suit is a fine Razz draw and a terrible badugi draw, because only one of those cards can count. The reverse is also true: a rainbow with a pair can make a great badugi and a lousy Razz hand.
• Mixing it up with Badacey or Badeucy. Those are draw games. And don’t mix it up with Razzdeucey, which uses ace-high.

Lore and reputation

Haney (Card Player, 2026) says Razz itself is “not very popular” in low and medium-stakes mixed cash games, where “the most favored stud lowball variants are Razz-deucey and Razz-dacey.” The WSOP rules use Razzdugi in their cardroom mix examples. It’s in BARGE’s rulebook and on Card Player Lifestyle’s Mixed Game Festival list. The Festival (a European series) says Razzdugi makes its first-ever appearance on its schedule at Malta in 2026, as a stand-alone event.