Five-Card Draw

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order and hand ranking
3. Betting in short
4. Setup
5. A deal, step by step
6. All-in and side pots
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Five-Card Draw is one of the oldest forms of poker. Everyone gets five secret cards, there is a betting round, then each player may swap up to three cards for new ones, and there is a second betting round. Players put chips into a shared pot – or give up. The pot goes to the last player left in, or to whoever holds the best five-card poker hand at the end. Nothing is ever shown before the end, so bluffing and watching your opponents matter as much as your cards.

• Players: 2–6, each for themselves (up to 8 can play, but then the cards may run out).
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and chips (or counters, matches, buttons) – the same amount for everyone at the start, e.g. 100 each. You play for chips, not money.

Card order and hand ranking

Cards rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2; the Ace can also be low in the straight 5-4-3-2-A. Suits are all equal.

Your hand is your five cards. From best to worst:

Any hand of a higher kind beats any hand of a lower kind. Between hands of the same kind, the higher cards win: first compare the most important cards (the four, the three, the higher pair …), then the remaining cards one after another from the top. A straight is ranked by its top card, so 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest straight. If all five cards are equal in rank, the hands tie and share the pot – suits never break ties.

Betting in short

All chips bet go into the pot in the middle. Before each deal, every player puts an ante – a small fixed stake – into the pot, so there is something to win. When it is your turn in a betting round, you can:

• Check – bet nothing, if nobody has bet yet in this round.
• Bet – put in chips. The first bet of the deal is called opening; the player who makes it is the opener.
• Call – put in just enough to match the highest bet so far.
• Raise – match the highest bet and add more.
• Fold – give up: put your cards away face down. You lose what you have already put in and take no further part in this deal.

A betting round ends when everyone still in has put in the same amount (or is all-in) and has had a chance to act.

Five-Card Draw is usually played with fixed limits. A good start: ante 1 chip; every bet and raise is exactly 1 chip before the draw and 2 chips after it; at most one bet and four raises per betting round.

Setup

1. Everyone gets the same number of chips. Pick a first dealer (e.g. highest card cut); the deal passes to the left after each hand.
2. Everyone puts their ante into the pot.
3. The dealer shuffles and deals five cards face down to each player, one at a time clockwise, starting on the left. Look at your cards, but show them to no one. The rest of the deck stays face down as the draw pile.

A deal, step by step

1. First betting round: the player to the dealer's left starts; play goes clockwise. If everyone checks, nobody opens: the cards are thrown in, the pot stays, everyone puts in another ante, and the next player deals.

2. The draw: if two or more players are still in, each of them gets one chance to improve their hand. Starting with the first player still in to the dealer's left, you say how many cards you want to swap – 0 to 3 – lay them aside face down, and the dealer deals you the same number of new cards from the draw pile. Keeping all five is called standing pat. Until the second betting round begins, anyone may ask how many cards another player drew and must get an honest answer.

If the draw pile runs out, the dealer shuffles the cards discarded so far into a new draw pile for the remaining players.

3. Second betting round: it is started by the opener (or, if the opener has folded, the next player still in to their left). Bets and raises are now twice as big.

4. Showdown: if two or more players are still in, they turn their cards face up – the player who made the last bet or raise shows first; if everyone checked, the opener shows first. The best hand wins the pot; equal hands share it.

If at any time all but one player fold, the remaining player wins the pot at once without showing any cards.

Example: Four players ante 1 chip each – the pot holds 4. Anna checks, Ben opens with 1, Carla calls, Dan folds, Anna calls: pot 7. Anna draws 3 cards, Ben 1, Carla 2. After the draw Ben bets 2, Carla raises to 4, Anna folds, Ben calls: pot 15. Carla raised last and shows first: 8 8 8 K 4 (three of a kind). Ben has drawn to a flush: J♥ 9♥ 6♥ 4♥ 2♥ – he wins the 15 chips.

All-in and side pots

If you want to call but don't have enough chips, you go all-in: you put in all your remaining chips and stay in until the showdown without betting further. You can only win as much from each opponent as you put in yourself. Whatever the others bet beyond your amount goes into a separate side pot, which only they can win. Anyone who has no chips left is out of the game.

Winning the game

Play until only one player has chips left, or stop at an agreed time – then the player with the most chips wins.

Tips for beginners

• Before the draw, a pair of Jacks or better is a decent hand; small pairs and "almost" hands are usually worth folding when someone bets.
• Drawing to four cards of a flush or an open-ended straight (e.g. 9 8 7 6) often pays; drawing to three of them rarely does.
• Watch how many cards the others draw: one card often means a straight or flush draw (or two pair), three cards a pair.
• Standing pat looks strong – which makes it a good bluff now and then.
• Don't call just because you have already put chips in. Chips in the pot are no longer yours.

Variants

All optional – agree beforehand.

• Jacks or better (Jackpots): probably the most popular version. You may open only with a pair of Jacks or anything better (e.g. 5 5 3 3 6 is enough, 10 10 A K Q is not). Once someone has opened, everyone may call or raise with any cards. If nobody opens, the hands are thrown in, the pot stays and the next player deals. If the opener wins the pot – even when everyone else folds – they must show enough cards to prove they had jacks or better; if they can't, their hand is dead and cannot win. If the opener throws away part of the opening hand in the draw (splitting openers, e.g. dropping a Q from Q Q 10 9 8 to try for a straight), they must say so and keep those cards apart to show later.
• Progressive jackpots: with jacks or better, if nobody opens, the next deal needs Queens or better, then Kings, then Aces, then back down.
• Four with an Ace: you may draw four cards if the card you keep is an Ace.
• Blinds: instead of antes, the player left of the dealer puts in a forced bet (the blind) before the deal; the first betting round then starts with the next player. Casinos use a small and a big blind, as in Texas Hold'em.
• Pot limit or no limit: instead of fixed limits, bets may be as large as the pot, or as large as all your chips.
• Wild cards: home games often make the 2s wild (Deuces Wild) or add a joker as a limited wild card, the bug (it can only be an Ace or complete a straight or flush).