Five Card Draw

“5 Card Draw” is one of the simplest and easiest-to-understand poker game variants. While this game type shares many similarities with Texas Hold’em poker, such as the hand rankings and the supported betting formats, there are several key differences.

Unlike Texas Hold’em poker, there are no community cards in 5 Card Draw. Instead, the players are dealt 5 cards, which they can discard and replace to create the strongest 5-card hand and win the pot. The game includes two betting rounds and a draw phase between them. If no winner is determined by the end of the seconds betting round, the outcome is decided via a showdown.

The “5 Card Draw” game type is supported in the Download Desktop, Native Mobile, and Web clients.

Five Card Draw is a simple variant of poker, where each player is dealt 5 face-down hole cards. Just like in flop games, there is a dealer, a small blind, and a big blind. The game consists of two betting rounds and a draw phase between them. No community cards are dealt on the board. Instead, each player is allowed to replace any number of their cards to improve their hand. The objective of the game is to have the strongest 5-card hand at the showdown and win the pot.

RULES

Five Card Draw is a simple variant of poker, where each player is dealt 5 face-down hole cards. Just like in flop games, there is a dealer, a small blind, and a big blind. The game consists of two betting rounds and a draw phase between them. No community cards are dealt on the board. Instead, each player is allowed to replace any number of their cards to improve their hand. The objective of the game is to have the strongest 5-card hand at the showdown and win the pot. 

Hand Rankings

The hand rankings in 5 Card Draw poker are the same as in Texas Hold’em, with suits being irrelevant. If two or more players have the same hand at showdown, the pot is split.

Supported betting structures 

The 5 Card Draw game supports Fixed Limit, Pot Limit, and No Limit betting formats, which function in the same way as for the other game types.

House Rules

  • The 5 Card Draw game uses the simplest house rules including:
  • A minimum of 2 and a maximum of 8 players per table.
  • Standard 52-card deck.
  • No burn cards or wild cards/jokers, and no antes in cash games.
  • Players can stick to their initial hole cards or discard a maximum of 5 cards.

Collecting Rake

The method for collecting rake varies based on whether the player is participating in a 5 Card Draw cash game or tournament.

  • For cash tables, the rake gets charged from each pot, except when the hand ends before the draw phase.
  • For tournaments, the rake is collected as an entry fee. 

Gameplay Sequence

  • First Betting Round

Once the cards are dealt, the first betting round begins with the player to the left of the Big Bind acting first. Each player in turn (going clockwise) must Fold/Check/Call/Raise.

  • Draw Phase

After all bets in the first round are complete, the Draw phase begins. During the draw phase, each player can choose not to discard any cards (“Stand pat”) or to discard from 1 to 5 of their hole cards and to draw new cards from the deck to replace them. Clicking/tapping on cards will select/unselect them for discarding. Each player in turn must confirm their choice via the “Discard” button.

  • Second Betting Round

A second round of betting follows. It is carried out exactly as the first betting round, but now the first player to act is the first active player to the left of the dealer.

  • Showdown

If there are two or more players who have not folded their cards by the end of the final betting round, the winner is determined by a showdown. The player with the best 5-card hand wins the pot. If two or more players have a winning hand with the same strength, the pot is split. Suits are irrelevant.

  • Reshuffling

There might be cases when the remaining cards in the deck will not be enough to supply all players with the number of cards they have requested. In such instances, the remaining cards in the original deck and all cards previously discarded by the players are shuffled together to make a new deck. Note that the active player’s discarded cards are not included in the reshuffle, therefore, the players cannot receive the same card(s) they have discarded on the draw. This new deck is then used to provide the remaining players with the number of cards they have requested. Multiple reshuffles can occur during a given hand, depending on the number of players participating in the hand and on the gameplay.