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Learning
to play Five Card Draw is relatively simple, but as with all
card games, real skill comes with practice and experience. Five
Card Draw is one of the more classic Poker games, and used to
be the standard form of poker used before Texas Hold’em
Poker surged in popularity for home games. As with all Poker
games, the object is to achieve the best hand, thereby winning
the “pot”.
First Steps
Before the cards are dealt, all players will put their “antes”
into the pot. This first ante is usually only a very small
amount. The Dealer will then deal clockwise around the table,
laying the cards face down, until each player has 5 cards.
The Dealer should always deal himself last.
Betting
The betting now starts. This process should start with the
player to the Dealer’s left.
Scenario One: No Bets on the Table
The player will need to decide whether to place a bet, or
to “pass” (sometimes known as “check”.
If the player passes, the decision to bet then moves on to
the Player sitting to his left and so on. If no player at
the table bets, then the cards are gathered up and new hands
are dealt.
Scenario Two: Bets placed on the Table.
If a bet has been placed on the table, the game starts proper.
As the turn passes to each Player, the Player can either:
a) Call the Bet – this is where the player matches the
amount of the largest bet placed on the table
b) Raise the Bet – this is where the player raises the
amount of the bet placed on the table. This is also dependent
on the betting limits set for the game
c) Fold – this is where the player effectively withdraws
from the game (the player will lose any stake placed in the
pot)
Round Two:
Once the first round of betting has passed around the table,
the remaining players now have the option to draw some new
cards from the deck. Once again, play will start with the
Player to the Dealer’s left. The Player has the option
of either keeping his hand, or discarding 1, 2 or 3 cards.*
These are placed on the table face down and passed back to
the Dealer. The Dealer will then deal an equal number of cards
back to the Player, keeping these cards face down as well.
*It should be noted that the number of cards that can be
discarded and exchanged usually depends on the rules of the
House.
Once all Players have had their turn, the betting will begin
again, as before.
Hand Rankings
These are the usual hand rankings for most Poker games. It
should be noted however, that in Five-Card Draw it is much
harder to get a hand using all 5 cards, e.g. Flushes and Straights.
This means that 3 of kinds, and high pairs are considered
to be good hands to keep in this particular variation of Poker.
Royal Flush – High Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten all
in the same suit
Straight Flush – a straight run of cards in the same
suit, e.g. five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
Four of A Kind – (Quads) 4 cards of the same rank
Full House – this is 3 of a kind, plus a pair
Flush – 5 cards all in the same suit
Straight – 5 consecutively numbered cards in different
suits
Three of A Kind – 3 cards of the same rank
Two Pair – 2 pairs of cards of the same rank, e.g. 2
Jacks and 2 Queens
One Pair – 1 pair of cards of matching rank
High Card – if there is none of the combinations above
in the hand, the rank is determined by the highest card held.
Conclusion:
Once all Players have placed their final bets (or folded)
the cards are revealed and the winning hand will take the
pot.
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