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The classic

In five-card draw, everyone is dealt five cards face down and there's a round of betting. Then each player still in can throw away cards and draw replacements, usually up to three, and a second round of betting decides it: the best five-card hand at the showdown wins. There are no community cards. All five are yours.

It was the poker game in America for about a hundred years, long before Texas Hold'em, which is why it's the one in old westerns. The hand rankings are exactly the same as in Hold'em.

First lesson · 6 min The cards How a hand goes What to draw FAQ

How a hand goes

Six steps, two betting rounds and one draw. Most home games are played with antes; some use blinds, as in Hold'em.

  1. 1

    Antes

    Before the deal, everyone puts the same small amount in the pot. That's the ante, and it gives every hand something to play for. Some games use two blinds instead, posted by the two players left of the dealer.

  2. 2

    The deal

    The dealer deals five cards to each player, face down, one at a time, clockwise from the player on their left.

  3. 3

    First betting round

    The player on the dealer's left acts first (with blinds, the player left of the big blind). Each player checks, bets, calls, raises or folds in turn. If everyone checks, the hand is thrown in and everyone antes again.

  4. 4

    The draw

    In order from the dealer's left, each player still in says how many cards they want, discards that many face down and is dealt the same number. Keeping all five is called standing pat.

  5. 5

    Second betting round

    One more round of betting. It starts with the first player still in on the dealer's left; in jacks or better, traditionally with the player who opened.

  6. 6

    Showdown

    If more than one player is left, the hands go face up and the best five-card hand takes the pot. Identical hands split it. Suits never break a tie.

How many cards you can draw

The usual home rule: up to three, or four if the card you keep is an ace and you show it. The cap exists so the deck doesn't run out when many players draw. Some games let you draw as many as you like, and card rooms deal a player drawing five cards four at first and the fifth after everyone else.

Shuffling, cutting and dealing, step by step

What would you draw?

Three hands you'll be dealt sooner or later. Decide what to keep, then open the answer. The odds are counted over the 47 cards you haven't seen.

  1. A pair of queens

    Q Q 9 5 2

    Queen, queen, nine, five, deuce. What do you keep?

    Show the answer

    Keep

    Q Q

    Draw 3

    The queens, and draw three. You improve 28.7% of the time: two pair 16.0%, three of a kind 11.4%, a full house 1.0% and four of a kind 0.3%. Keeping an ace kicker and drawing two improves it less often, 25.9% of the time.

  2. Four to a flush

    K J 8 4 9

    Four hearts and the nine of clubs. What do you keep?

    Show the answer

    Keep

    K J 8 4

    Draw 1

    The four hearts, and draw one. Nine hearts are left among the 47 cards you haven't seen, so you make the flush 9 times in 47: 19.1%, a little under one in five.

  3. Aces and eights

    A A 8 8 5

    Two aces, two eights and a five. Draw or stand pat?

    Show the answer

    Keep

    A A 8 8

    Draw 1

    Either is fine. Drawing one card makes a full house 4 times in 47 (8.5%), and the worst you can end up with is the two pair you already have. Standing pat hides your hand. These are the aces and eights of the dead man's hand.

    The dead man's hand

Jacks or better, and lowball

Two variants worth knowing by name. Neither changes the deal or the draw.

J J

Jacks or better

To open the betting you need a pair of jacks or better. If nobody can, the hand is thrown in, everyone antes again and the cards are dealt again. You're dealt jacks or better about one hand in five (20.6%). Whoever opens has to be able to prove it at the end, so if they break up their openers to draw at something else, they set the discard aside.

5 4 3 2 A

Lowball

The lowest hand wins. In ace-to-five lowball, the best hand is 5‑4‑3‑2‑A and straights and flushes don't count. In deuce-to-seven, the best is 7‑5‑4‑3‑2, the ace is always high, and straights and flushes count against you.

Five-card draw vs. Texas Hold'em

Same deck, same hand rankings. What changes is where the cards come from, and how much of them everyone gets to see.

What differs Five-card draw Texas Hold'em
Your cards Five, all private Two hole cards plus five on the board
Community cards None Five, shared by everyone
Betting rounds Two: before and after the draw Four: preflop, flop, turn and river
How a hand improves You discard and draw The board cards arrive
What you learn about opponents How they bet, and how many cards they drew How they bet, and the board they share with you
Two pair or better 7.6% of five-card deals 38.8% of seven-card hands

With seven cards to choose from, Hold'em hands run much stronger. A two pair that's a solid holding in draw is an everyday hand in Hold'em.

Texas Hold'em rules

Why it's the poker in old movies

The draw was added to poker around the time of the Civil War, and for about a hundred years after that, five-card draw was the classic form of the game: in saloons, in army camps, at kitchen tables. Westerns are set in those years, so that's what they show. Texas Hold'em reached Las Vegas only in the 1960s and became the game everyone knows in the 2000s.

Nobody recorded which game Wild Bill Hickok was playing when he was shot in 1876, but the two pair he is said to have held, aces and eights, is a five-card hand.

The dead man's hand

Five-card draw FAQ

How many cards can you draw in five-card draw?

In most home games, up to three, or four if you keep an ace and show it. Some games allow any number. Card rooms that let you draw five deal you four first and the fifth after everyone else has drawn.

What does standing pat mean?

Keeping all five cards and drawing none. It usually means a straight or better, which is exactly why a player sometimes stands pat on less.

Who bets first after the draw?

The first player still in on the dealer's left. In jacks or better, traditionally the player who opened the betting before the draw.

What happens if nobody can open in jacks or better?

The hand is thrown in, everyone antes again and there's a new deal. House rules differ on whether the same player deals again or the deal passes to the left.

How many people can play five-card draw?

Two to six play smoothly. With seven or more the deck can run short at the draw; if it does, the discards of the players who have already drawn are shuffled to finish it.

Is five-card draw the same as five-card stud?

No. In five-card stud there's no draw: you get one card face down and four face up, with a round of betting after each face-up card. Draw keeps all five cards hidden and lets you change them once.

Keep going

The ranking Poker hand rankings All ten hands, how often each one comes up and how ties are broken. The variant Texas Hold'em rules What makes Hold'em Hold'em, and how it differs from Omaha and five-card draw. The legend The dead man's hand Aces and eights, Wild Bill Hickok, and what the hand is really worth.

The ranking is the one to know

Draw, stud or Hold'em, every kind of poker ranks the hands the same way. The course teaches Hold'em: it starts with the cards, then the betting and who acts when, and gets to the ranking in path 2, “My cards and everyone's”.

First lesson · 6 min The cards Every card has two facts: rank and suit. You'll learn to read both, and which one says which card is worth more. Play now

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