How To Play Draw Poker: 5 Card Draw Poker Rules

Blinds or Antes?

Any poker hand must start with some forced betting, so the players have something to play for.

Antes are small bet amounts placed by every player who will be dealt into the hand. Each player pays the exact same amount and once the dealer has collected each person’s ante, they will deal the cards.

Blinds are also small bets and usually these are posted by the two players to the left of the dealer button. Typically, the player to the immediate left of the dealer button will post the smaller amount, known as the small blind, and the person to their left will post an amount usually exactly double the amount of the small blind and known, unsurprisingly, as the big blind. When the two blinds have been posted the dealer will leave the blind bets in front of the two players and pitch cards to the players.

Some versions of 5-Card Draw use antes instead of blinds, meaning all players contribute equally to the pot before the hand begins. This structure is more common in home games and some casino variants.

The Initial Deal

After the forced bets, whether antes or blinds, the dealer will now start to give cards to the players. Cards are given face down one at a time starting with the player to the left of the dealer button and the dealer continues this process in a clockwise direction around the table until each player has five cards.

First Betting Round

Once the players have all their five cards they can then start to fight over the money in the pot! The first player to make a betting decision is the player to the left of the dealer button in an ante game or the first to the left of the big blind in a blind game.

When antes are used, the first player to act can opt to check – that is, make no betting action – or to bet. Every subsequent player, in a clockwise direction, can also check if there has been no bet placed by a player. If a bet has been made the next player can choose to fold by discarding their hand and taking no further part in this hand. If they prefer to continue in the hand, they can do so by calling the bet – that is, placing a bet that matches the amount of the original bet – or by raising the bet to a larger amount.

Some house rules require a player to have a minimum hand, such as a pair of jacks or better, to start the betting. However, this is not a universal rule and varies between games.

When blinds are used, the player to the left of the big blind will act first and can choose to fold, call or raise. Just like in Texas Hold Em.

The betting round continues until all players have either matched the amount of the last bet made or folded their cards. A further complication can arise if one player or more does not have enough money in front of them to match the biggest bet, in which case they can continue in the hand but will be considered “all in.” A more comprehensive breakdown of betting rules can be found in our article on how to play Texas Hold Em.

After the first betting round it is time for players to draw cards.

The Draw

All players who have not folded their hands can now change cards. This process starts with the player to the left of the dealer button. They can choose to keep the five cards they already have – in other words to “stand pat” – or to change any number of cards from 1 to 5. In most casino and tournament rules, players can exchange up to five cards. However, some home games limit the draw to three cards.

The dealer will “burn” a card – place the top card of the deck face down, to take no part in anyone’s hand – then replace the player’s discards with a matching number of cards from the top of the remaining deck. This process is repeated for each player in a clockwise direction until each player has had their one and only chance to exchange cards.

Note that if the house rule is that the player must have a pair of jacks or better to open the betting, the player’s discards will be kept, face down, close to the player so they can be examined if challenged: they might break a pair to try to draw to a flush or straight, even though it is not a good tactic. If this rule is not in play the dealer will collect all the discards.

The Final Betting Round

Starting to the left of the dealer button, the players now have another, final, chance to bet on the strength of their hands. After that betting round, if only one person at the table has not folded their hand, they will be awarded the pot with no compulsion to show their cards. If at least two players have remained in the hand, there is now a showdown. The players show their cards and the person with the strongest holding according to the traditional ranking of poker hands will win the money in the pot.

The dealer button will move one seat to the left after the completion of the hand.

Best Starting Hands in 5-Card Draw

From our practical experience, successful players focus on strong starting hands while avoiding weak holdings. The best five-card hand when you play five-card draw poker is usually formed from the following starting hands:

• High Pairs: Jacks, Queens, Kings, or Aces offer a solid foundation for betting.
• Two Pair: A strong position, though the highest pair frequently determines the winner.
• Three of a Kind: One of the best pre-draw hands, regularly leading to a winning showdown.

Worst Starting Hands in a 5-Card Draw

The worst hands in 5-Card Draw Poker include:

• Low Unpaired Cards: Holding five random low-value cards rarely leads to the best play.
• Single High Card Hands: If the hand when betting consists of just an Ace or King with no support, it’s typically better to fold.

“Bug” Variant

Five Card Draw poker with a “bug,” is popular in parts of the United States of America. This variant sees a joker added to the normal deck of cards, making a 53-card deck. The joker can be used as an ace, or to complete a straight or flush.

Example hands using a “bug:”

• J-J-5-5-bug is two pairs, jacks over fives, with an ace kicker.
• A  8  6  5 -bug is a flush, AK865 – as the ace is already present the bug acts as the highest card of the suit not in the hand.
• A-A-A-A-bug is five of a kind and this is the best possible hand in the game, even beating a straight flush.

Deuces Wild Variant

This variant is always of the type where the player must hold a pair of jacks or better to open the betting.

All the four deuces in the deck are wild cards and they can be used as any card required to complete their hand.

Example hands in deuces wild five card draw:

• A-A-A-2-2 is five of a kind, aces, and is the best possible hand in this game, beating a royal flush.
• A  J  8  5  2  is a flush, AKJ85. The ace of hearts is already present in the player’s hand, and, in this variant, the wild card is used as the next highest-ranking card of a suit in completing a flush.

In some house rules, players must verbally declare their hand at showdown, and misdeclaring a hand can result in losing the pot. This can mean that a player incorrectly declares the value of their hand and loses the hand as a result. For example:

• Player A declares “Aces full of fives” and shows down A-A-A-5-2. They have a hand that qualifies as four of a kind, aces, but incorrectly declared their hand and now they have only a full house!
• Player B correctly declares “Four of a kind, tens” and tables 10-10-10-7-2. They win the pot with four of a kind against a full house purely because Player A made the error.

Stripped Deck Variant

Five-card draw is sometimes played with a stripped deck, which means that some of the cards are removed from the standard 52-card deck. This variant is also known as “seven-to-ace” or “ace-to-seven” (abbreviated as A-7 or 7-A). It can be played by up to four players with cards of ranks ranging from 2 to 6 removed, leaving a 32-card deck. With five players, the sixes are added to make a 36-card deck. The deck thus contains only eight or nine different card ranks, compared to 13 in a standard deck. This affects the probabilities of making specific hands, so the ranking of hands at showdown is changed: a flush will beat a full house.