How To Play 5 Card Draw

5 Card Draw is the original, classic poker game, often associated with the "Old West" of 19th century America. Despite the rise of Texas Holdem as the world's most popular poker variation, 5 Card Draw is still a favorite among many poker players.

Each player is dealt 5 cards, then trades in what he doesn’t want for new cards, again totaling 5. The highest ranking poker hand wins. With only two betting rounds, 5 Card Draw poker is incomparable simplicity at its best!

5 Card Draw is generally played with a maximum of 5 players, using a standard 52-card deck.

Object of 5 Card Draw
The object of 5 Card Draw is to develop the best possible 5-card poker hand. The player with the highest ranking hand at the end of each hand wins the pot.

Betting Structure of 5 Card Draw
5 Card Draw can be played with any betting structure, Fixed Limit, No Limit or Pot Limit. Blind Bets are used to sweeten the pot before any cards are dealt. In home games, however, traditional Ante bets are still common. We’ll first describe the limitations Fixed Limit, No Limit and Pot Limit betting structures, then define each betting option below.

Fixed Limit: This means that players must place bets/raises in accordance to the stakes of the game. For example, stakes of $2/$4 would require all bets/raises in the first betting round to equal the $2 low-end stakes. In the last betting round (there are only two betting rounds), the all bets/raises increase to match the $4 high-end stakes. Fixed Limit poker games allow for up to 3 raises per betting round.

No Limit: The stakes determine the lowest possible bet/raise, but there is no cap on the maximum bet/raise (except the size of your chip stack, of course). There is no limit on the number of raises that can be placed in a single betting round.

Pot Limit: Like No Limit, the stakes determine the lowest possible bet/raise, but the highest bet amount is always equal to the size of the pot. If the pot has $5, the max bet/raise is $5. If a player bets the max $5, the pot now has $10, raising the max to $10, and so on. There is no limit on the number of raises that can be placed in a single betting round.

5 Card Draw Blind Bets

Small Blind: A forced bet placed before any cards are dealt by the player left of the dealer. The Small Blind is equal to 50% of the low-end stakes in a Fixed Limit game; No Limit and Pot Limit games require a Small Blind equal to the low-end stakes.

Big Blind: A forced bet placed before any cards are dealt by the player left of the Small Blind. The Big Blind is equal to the low-end stakes in a Fixed Limit game; No Limit and Pot Limit games require a Big Blind equal to the high-end stakes.

Check: To place no chips in the pot, but remain in the hand. A Check can only be made if no player has previously bet in the current round.

Bet: The first chips placed into the pot in a betting round.

Call: To match the previous bet with the same amount of chips.

Raise: To bet more than the previous bet.

Fold: To surrender your cards and the current pot.

All-In: To bet all remaining chips. All-In bets are kept in a separate pot from the main pot because the All-In bettor cannot win an amount higher than his own bet from any opponent. All-In bets can be placed any time in a No Limit or Pot Limit game, but in a Fixed Limit game, may only be placed if the player has just enough or too few chips to bet, call or raise.

General Game Play of 5 Card Draw
Note: For the following example 5 Card Draw hand, we’ll use a Fixed Limit betting structure with stakes of $2/$4.

5 Card Draw begins with the placement of Small Blind and Big Blind bets. The dealer will then deal 5 cards face-down to each player. After examining their cards, the first round of betting begins, starting with the player left of the Big Blind, who may Call the Big Blind bet, Raise or Fold. Note that all bets raises must be equal to the low-end stakes of $2. Betting continues clockwise until the Small Blind bettor, who may Fold, Call or Raise the current bet by adding enough chips to his Small Blind bet. If no player has raised, the Big Blind bettor may Check or Raise.

The Draw: Each player may discard as many as three cards from his hands, to be replaced by the dealer in an equal number to those discarded. A player does not have to discard any cards if he does not wish to. The rules of 5 Card Draw often allow for a player to discard 4 cards so long as he is keeping an Ace (the player will have to show the Ace).

The last betting round begins, this time starting with the player left of the dealer and requiring all bets/raises to be equal to the high-end stakes of $4.

The Showdown: If every player has not Folded, resulting in an instant winner, the hand goes to a Showdown. All players remaining in the hand (those who didn’t Fold) will reveal their 5-card poker hand. The player with the highest ranking hand wins the entire pot.

Should an exact tie occur, the winners split the pot (example: two players have a King-High Straight.)

Poker Hand Ranks (highest to lowest)
Royal Flush (Ace-high straight suited)
Straight Flush (straight suited)
4 of a Kind (4 cards of the same value)
Full House (3 of a Kind + 1 Pair)
Flush (all cards suited)
Straight (all cards in sequence)
3 of a Kind (3 cards of the same value)
2 Pair (1 Pair + 1 Pair)
1 Pair (2 cards of the same value)
High Card (none of the combinations above)