Learn to Play Five Card Draw

Five Card Draw is one of the most simple poker games to learn and is often played casually in home games. This is a game that many people start playing for fun at a young age, which shows how easy it is to play.

The object of Five Card Draw is to create the highest ranking five-card poker hand. If you are not sure how poker hands are ranked, you can learn the order by reading the poker hand rankings page.

Five Card Draw Betting Variations

There are three different types of Five Card Draw games available at PokerStars:

• Limit Five Card Draw - In this variation, the betting is structured. Players can only bet and raise in limited chip increments. After an initial bet and three raises, the pot will be ‘capped’, meaning no more bets are permitted during that betting round.
• No Limit Five Card Draw - In No Limit games, players can bet any amount up to the amount of chips that they have in front of them. The betting is not structured and a player can go ‘all in’ at any time.
• Pot Limit Five Card Draw - Like No Limit, the betting is not structured. However, players may only bet or raise an amount that is equal to or less than the size of the current pot.

See the Texas Hold’em page for more details on poker betting formats.

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How to Play 5 Card Draw

If you are in a full Five Card Draw game, there will typically be six players seated at the table. A small marker, called the dealer button (simply ‘button’ for short) is placed in front of one player and is moved clockwise one spot after each hand is completed.

Blinds and First Betting Round

While Five Card Draw is sometimes played with antes, the games on PokerStars use blinds, just like flop games such as Texas Hold’em and Omaha. Blinds are forced bets that must be posted before the cards are dealt, and establish the minimum bet required to continue with the hand after the deal. The player seated to the immediate left of the dealer button posts a small blind, and the player seated to their left posts a big blind. In most games, the small blind is roughly half the size of the big blind.

Once the blinds are posted, each player at the table is dealt five cards face down, called hole cards. Starting with the player seated immediately to the left of the big blind, each person must call the amount of the big blind, raise to a larger amount, or fold and forfeit their hand.

Everyone at the table will have a chance to act on their hand, with the players seated in the blinds having the last option before the draw. If there has been no raise, the player in the big blind can check (pass on the action) or raise. If a player seated in the blinds decides to fold, they surrender their blind to the pot.

Draw and Final Bets

Once the initial betting round is completed, there is a draw. Each player has the option to discard any number of their cards in exchange for new ones. Players do not have to draw at all and can choose to keep their original holding if they prefer. This is called ‘standing pat’.

After the draw is complete, there is one more round of betting. This time, the action begins with the player seated to the immediate left of the dealer button and continues clockwise around the table. Each player may check, bet, raise (if they are facing a bet), or fold.

Five Card Draw Showdown

After the second round of betting is completed, the action is over and a winner will be determined in a Showdown. Players expose their hole cards to reveal who holds the highest ranking poker hand. The pot is awarded to the winner, unless two players hold winning hands of identical rankings. In this case, the pot is split, or ‘chopped’ accordingly. The button is moved one spot clockwise and the next hand will begin.

If at any point during the hand there is only one player remaining, they will be awarded the pot and no Showdown will be reached.

In rare occasions, there will not be enough cards in the deck to complete the hand. If that happens, the cards will be reshuffled and play will continue using the newly shuffled deck. At PokerStars, in single draw games like Five Card Draw, the active players’ discards will not be included in the shuffle, so it will be impossible for them to receive the same cards that they threw away.

Play Five Card Draw Online for Free

If you’d like to practice 5 Card Draw, you can play for free in the play-money poker tables on PokerStars. Once you feel ready, there are many real money cash games and tournaments running on PokerStars every day. Download the free PokerStars software and start playing Five Card Draw.