Five Card Draw Hands Rankings

Five-card draw (also known as a Cantrell draw) is a pokervariant that is considered the simplest variant of poker, and is the basis for video poker. As a result, it is often the first variant learned by new players. It is commonly played in home games but rarely played in casino and tournament play. The variant is also offered by some online venues, although it is not as popular as other variants such as seven-card stud and Texas hold 'em.

Gameplay[edit]

Five-card draw (also known as a Cantrell draw) is a poker variant that is considered the simplest variant of poker, and is the basis for video poker. As a result, it is often the first variant learned by new players. It is commonly played in home games but rarely played in casino and tournament. Five-card draw — is a poker variant and often the. Draw (poker) — This article is about poker terminology relating to drawing cards or drawing hands.

In casino play the first betting round begins with the player to the left of the big blind, and subsequent rounds begin with the player to the dealer's left. Home games typically use an ante; the first betting round begins with the player to the dealer's left, and the second round begins with the player who opened the first round.

Play begins with each player being dealt five cards, one at a time, all face down. The remaining deck is placed aside, often protected by placing a chip or other marker on it. Players pick up the cards and hold them in their hands, being careful to keep them concealed from the other players, then a round of betting occurs.

If more than one player remains after the first round, the 'draw' phase begins. Each player specifies how many of their cards they wish to replace and discards them. The deck is retrieved, and each player is dealt in turn from the deck the same number of cards they discarded so that each player again has five cards.

A second 'after the draw' betting round occurs beginning with the player to the dealer's left or else beginning with the player who opened the first round (the latter is common when antes are used instead of blinds). This is followed by a showdown, if more than one player remains, in which the player with the best hand wins the pot.

House rules[edit]

A common 'house rule' in some places is that a player may not replace more than three cards, unless they draw four cards while keeping an ace (or wild card). This rule is useful for low-stakes social games where many players will stay for the draw, and will help avoid depletion of the deck. In more serious games such as those played in casinos it is unnecessary and generally not used. However, a rule used by many casinos is that a player is not allowed to draw five consecutive cards from the deck. In this case, if a player wishes to replace all five of their cards, that player is given four of them in turn, the other players are given their draws, and then the dealer returns to that player to give the fifth replacement card; if no other player draws it is necessary to deal a burn card first.

Another common house rule is that the bottom card of the deck is never given as a replacement, to avoid the possibility of someone who might have seen it during the deal using that information. If the deck is depleted during the draw before all players have received their replacements, the last players can receive cards chosen randomly from among those discarded by previous players. For example, if the last player to draw wants three replacements but there are only two cards remaining in the deck, the dealer gives the player the one top card he can give, then shuffles together the bottom card of the deck, the burn card, and the earlier players' discards (but not the player's own discards), and finally deals two more replacements to the last player.

Sample deal[edit]

The sample deal is being played by four players as shown to the right with Alice dealing. All four players ante $1. Alice deals five cards to each player and places the deck aside.

Bob opens the betting round by betting $5. Carol folds, David calls, and Alice calls, closing the betting round.

Bob now declares that he wishes to replace three of his cards, so he removes those three cards from his hand and discards them. Alice retrieves the deck, deals a burn card, then deals three cards directly to Bob, who puts them in his hand. David discards one card, and Alice deals one card to him from the deck. Alice now discards three of her own cards, and replaces them with three from the top of the deck (Note: in a player-dealt casino game there is often a rule that the dealer must discard before picking up the deck, but this is a home game so we won't worry about such details).

Now a second betting round begins. Bob checks, David checks, Alice bets $10, Bob folds, David raises $16, and Alice calls, ending the second betting round and going directly into a showdown. David shows a flush, and Alice shows two pair, so David takes the pot.

Stripped deck variant[edit]

Five-card draw is sometimes played with a stripped deck. This variant is commonly known as 'seven-to-ace' or 'ace-to-seven' (abbreviated as A-7 or 7-A). It can be played by up to five players. When four or fewer players play, a normal 32-card deck without jokers, with ranks ranging from ace to seven, is used. With five players, the sixes are added to make a 36-card deck. The deck thus contains only eight or nine different card ranks, compared to 13 in a standard deck. This affects the probabilities of making specific hands, so a flush ranks above a full house and below four of a kind. Many smaller online poker rooms, such as Boss Media, spread the variant, although it is unheard of in land casinos.

Five Card Draw Hands Rankings Against

Maths of Five-card draw[edit]

Pre-draw odds of getting each hand

• Royal flush <0.001%
• Straight flush (not including royal flush) <0.002%
• Four of a kind 0.02%
• Full house 0.14%
• Flush (excluding royal flush and straight flush) 0.20%
• Straight (excluding royal flush and straight flush) 0.39%
• Three of a kind 2.11%
• Two pair 4.75%
• One pair 42.30%
• No pair / High card 50.10%

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

How to Play Five-Card Draw

Five-card draw is the poker game just about everyone learned to play as a child. Despite the popularity of Texas hold’em, five card draw games are still available online and at casino poker rooms. If you’re new to poker, you might find it easier to learn to play draw poker than it is to play community card games like Texas holdem and Omaha.

Five-card draw gets a bad rap because it is seen as a simplistic game for kids. But there’s plenty to learn from five-card draw, including the subtleties of bluffing and getting in your opponent’s heads.

The Basics

Unlike Texas holdem, five-card draw does not have community cards. All the cards you hold should remain hidden from the other players.

Another difference between five-card draw and Texas hold’em: five-card draw uses ante bets instead of blinds. All players pitch in a small wager on every single hand in order to build the pot. Money changes hands in every hand, even if everyone (but one) folds on the first round of betting.

Five-Card Draw Deal

At home or in private games, one player serves the role of the dealer per hand. Usually the dealer role rotates from one hand to the next in a clockwise fashion around the table. In the casino or at a tournament, you’ll have a dealer who’s an employee of whatever establishment or casino is putting on the event.

In five-card draw, the dealer deals out five cards to each player at the table. Those cards are not dealt out five at a time to each player, but one-around-the-table. Therefore, you’ll deal a card to the player at your left, then one card to the next player, and so on. This takes five full revolutions around the table, so that everyone has five cards when the deal is finished.

Five-Card Draw Betting

Once you’ve seen your cards, players have a chance to bet. Betting begins with the player to the left of the dealer. Everyone gets a chance to call, raise, or fold. If a person raises the bet, all other players must call that bet to remain in the hand. If they refuse to call, they fold and are out of the hand. Instead of call a raise, you can also choose to re-raise. This goes on until every player has either called or folded.

Five-Card Draw – Discarding Cards

Once everyone has their cards, players can look at their cards and decide which cards to keep and which to discard.

In some variations of five-card draw, you can only discard 3 or less cards, unless you’re holding an ace with the 5th card. In other variations of the game, you can dump all 5 cards if you want.

Poker Hand Rankings

The idea is to build the best hand according to a ranking of the card hands. These include the card ranks starting at 2-10, then jack, queen, king, and ace. A pair beats any high card. Two pair beats a pair of any card, even aces. Three of a kind beats two pairs. A straight beats a 3-of-a-kind, while a flush beats a straight. A full house beats a flush, while a four-of-a-kind beats a full house. A straight flush beats 4-of-a-kind, while a royal flush beats any other hand, including the regular straight flush.

Drawing New Cards

Once you’ve decided which hand you want to build and you’ve discarded cards accordingly, the dealer deals everyone a new set of cards up to five. This represents the last chance you have to improve your hand.

The 2nd Round of Betting

Five Card Draw Hand Rankings

Once everyone has seen their cards from the re-draw, one more round of betting occurs. This works just the same as the first round of wagers. Players can raise bet to force other players out of the hand or require them to pay to see their cards. When the bets are finished, if two or more players have called the final bet, you have the showdown. Each player’s hand is shown and they are compared against the card ranks.

Five-Card Draw – An Example of Play

For these hand examples in five-card draw, I want to take this from a 1st-person perspective of a player. So let’s assume you are dealt an K-K-10-6-2 with these cards of four different suits. In this basic hand, you would want to discard the 10-6-2, because you want three chances to hit a third king. You discard those three cards and ask for three more.

Five Card Draw Hands Rankings Without

The dealer deals you 3 more cards and they are a K-9-6. Your hand is a strong K-K-K-9- 6. With three of a kind, you dominate any non-straight, non-flush, or four of a kind. Since those are uncommon hands, you’ll probably bet pretty aggressively. Betting is much different in five-card draw, though, because you have less information than you do in Texas hold’em. In hold’em, you have community cards, so you already know what up to 3 of your opponents’ cards are. That’s not the case in draw poker.

Five Card Draw Hands Rankings 2019

That means you have to read your opponent and get an idea when they bet aggressively and what pushes them out of a pot. Your opponent started with a raise on the draw, so you can imagine they began with a solid hand. When they re-raise on the re-draw, that should tell you they must have hit something further on the re-draw. That could mean they were drawing to a straight or flush and hit it. That could mean they had two aces and hit a third. Each of these would beat your hand.

Five Card Draw Hands Rankings Printable

Most players are going to play strong with a 3 of a kind, so you bet. If they hold a straight or flush or set of Aces, you just have to accept that you sometimes get beat on a hand. But they’re hold a set of queens and you give them a beat they won’t soon forget.