How To Play Draw Poker

Also referred to as 5-Card Draw, Draw Poker is a popular and classic game of poker. However, due to the fairly simple nature of Draw Poker a significant number of online casinos have been removing the game of Draw Poker from their poker rooms and made them part of video poker machines instead.

Whilst the rules in a game of Draw Poker are virtually the same as the rule of the 5-Draw Game, there is one fundamental difference – in Draw Poker a player has no opposing hand. Instead, a player’s hand is based entirely on its own merits and nothing else.

How do you play a game of Draw Poker?

In a table game of Draw Poker every player at the table place their own first bet, known as an ante. Every player is then dealt a total of five cards, which remain faced down. Each individual player then decides whether to match the bet with their own bet, to increase the bet to one that is higher or to place a fold, whereby they would opt out of the particular round and lose the funds that they may have wagered.

Following the round of betting, the players select the amount of cards they would like to give back to the dealer. The dealer gives the players a new card in return. It is possible to return a maximum of three cards for every player. Though it is possible not to return any cards. If a player is in possession of an Ace, they are able to return all their other cards to the dealer.

There is then another betting round, followed by a ‘showdown’ in which the player with the superior hand of cards wins the game and can take home the wagers made during the games, with the exception of the ‘rake’. The rake is the casino’s percentage taken from the Draw Poker pot.