Five Card Draw Rules:

Five card draw is often the 1st poker game that many people learn how to play and it's really simple to learn. You may remember playing 5 card draw as a kid depending upon where you live, as the poker game is very popular. You won't find the poker game offered in very many land-based casinos due to demand, but most online poker sites offer five card draw. Make sure you read the rules below carefully, so that you know exactly what you're doing before you begin playing the game.

» Five Card Draw Rules - Before the Deal

Five card draw is a bit different than other poker games before the deal. Rather than two players paying a blind, every player on the table needs to pay an ante before the deal in 5 card draw. Once everyone has paid the ante into the pot the dealer can deal out five cards to each player in the hand.

» Five Card Draw Rules - After the Deal

If you weren't able to guess, 5 card draw is played with 5 cards dealt to each player. Once every player at the table is dealt five cards there is a round of betting. The rules for betting will vary based on the limits you're playing, so make sure you find out if you're playing no limit, fixed limit or pot limit. During the round of betting players can check, bet or raise the pot. If you don't want to stay in the pot after a bet has been made you can fold your hand.

» Five Card Draw Rules - Discard

When the 1st round of betting is complete the dealer needs to pick up the deck of cards and deal out cards to players that want to discard. You always start to the left of the dealer and move around the table clockwise when asking players how many cards they want to discard. Every player will have the chance to discard cards only one time and you're allowed to exchange 1, 2 or 3 cards.

» Five Card Draw Rules - Betting

Once each player has had their turn to discard there is a final betting round. The player sitting to the left of the dealer needs to begin the betting by checking or betting. The betting continues until every player in the hand has called the highest bet or folded their hand. This is the last stage of the hand in five card draw and once the betting is over the players' progress to the showdown to see who ended up winning the pot.

Five card draw is really simple because you can only use the five cards in your hand to make the best 5 card poker hand. You don't need to worry about any community cards, which make it a lot easier to figure out the strength of your hand. Most hands aren't that big in five card draw, so if you have a high pair like aces or kings it may be good to win the pot. It's rare to end up with a straight or higher while playing 5 card draw because there is only 1 discard round.

Since nobody has any idea what you have in five card draw due to your hand being concealed until the showdown, it's really easy to bluff in this game. If you think your opponents are weak then you should make sure you try to bluff them off of the hand regardless of what you may have. As long as you don't try and bluff too much you should be able to get away with a few bluffs every time you sit down and play a session of 5 card draw.