Five Card Draw Rules

Playing 5 Card Draw Poker

Players are dealt 5 cards face down by the dealer. To the left of the dealer is the 'small blind', who must bet a pre-determined amount, generally half the bet for the pre-draw betting round. To the left of the small blind, the 'big blind' is required to post the minimum bet for the pre-draw round (which is the only proper size of bet for limit draw games). This means that, in a 1/2 limit 5 card draw game, the small blind will be $.50 and the big blind $1. New players coming into the game must post the big blind before they can play.

In 5 card draw, some games feature an 'ante' in place of or in addition to blinds (the ante is usually a rounded chip figure close to 10% of the pre-draw betting amount, such as $.50 in a 5/10 draw game), although not all 5-card draw games have an ante.

5 Card Draw Betting Rounds

There are a total of two betting rounds; one round of betting takes place before the draw, after which players still in the hand may draw any number of cards they wish.

After the draw, there is another round of betting. At the conclusion of this betting round, players still in the hand will show their cards, and the best five card poker hand wins.

5 Card Draw Variants

There are two primary variants of 5 card draw – limit and pot-limit.

Limit 5 Card Draw

In limit, players are restricted from betting more than a set incremental amount each time they bet or raise, regardless of whether they are betting before or after the draw. For instance, in a '10/20' 5 card draw game, players must make all bets and raises in $10 increments in the first betting round (pre-draw) and in increments of $20 in the second betting round (after the draw). In 5 card draw, a bet and four raises are generally allowed.

Pot-Limit 5 Card Draw

In pot-limit 5 card draw, players can bet any amount they wish between the minimum bet (the size of the big blind) and the total pot size on both the pre-draw and post-draw betting rounds.