Draw poker is considered the standard from which all other variations of poker are derived. Still a common ingredient in many home games, draw has been pushed aside at many casinos, where more exotic and interesting varieties like Omaha and Texas Hold'em have captured larger pools of players. If you find yourself intimidated by those games, however, draw poker is a good place to begin your poker education.

The name of the game comes from the fact that players can draw replacement cards after the deal. Some games allow you to draw up to three cards; others allow you to draw four cards as long as you show that your remaining original card is an ace; a rare few allow you to replace all your cards.

Basic Rules

Before the deal, each player places an ante — a bet for the right to play the hand. After the ante, each player receives five cards, dealt face-down, and the first round of betting begins.

Betting begins with the player on the dealer's left and proceeds to the left around the table. In the first round, the first player to bet has the option of passing (also called checking), which gives the right of the first bet to the next player. If the next player also passes, the right of first bet goes to the third player, and so on. Once someone has opened with a bet, the next player must at least call that bet to stay in the game; he or she also may raise the bet.

After the first round of betting is complete, players then decide whether they want to draw replacement cards. Discards are always placed face-down on the table. When all players have received their replacement cards, there is a second round of betting. Again, the first player in the second betting round has the option of checking, and each subsequent player can check as long as no one has bet yet in this round. Once a bet is made, the other players must fold, call, or raise.

If only one player remains active after the second betting round — i.e., has not folded — he or she wins the pot. Under these circumstances, the winner does not have to show his or her cards. In fact, most poker players strongly recommend not showing your cards unless you have to.

If two or more players are still in the game at the end of the second betting round, they enter what is called the “showdown.” In this case, each player lays his cards face-up on the table, and the highest hand wins.

Variations in Draw

There are several versions of draw poker that involve modest changes in the rules. One of the most common variations in casino draw games is a version called “jackpots,” in which you must have a pair of jacks or better to open the betting. Some casinos offer high/low draw, in which the highest and lowest hands split the pot. There also is a version called “lowball,” in which the lowest, rather than the highest, hand wins. In lowball, the ace always counts as a low card.

How to Bet Draw Poker

As with most versions of poker, your betting strategy for draw depends on the cards in your hand, your chances of drawing the cards you need to complete your hand, and the size of the pot. In general, if you have nothing in your first five cards, chances are you'll still have nothing after the draw, and your best option usually is to fold. This is likely to happen about half the time: the odds of being dealt five mismatched cards are about 1 in 2, while the odds of being dealt a pair are around 1 in 2.5.

A Pair or Better

Say you hold a pair of 4s, a 7, a jack, and a king, all of different suits. Should you keep the king as a potential tie-breaker? Or should you dump it and hope for something better in the draw?

Though it's tempting to hang onto that high card, chances are you'll get more help from the deck if you toss it. When you have a pair and draw three cards, you have about a 1 in 3.5 chance of improving your hand. But if you keep the kicker and only draw two cards, your chances of improving drop to about 1 in 4.

Suppose you have three of a kind with a kicker. Should you draw one or two cards? Again, your chances of improving your hand are better when you toss the kicker. If you draw two cards to your three of a kind, you have about a 1 in 9.5 chance of increasing the value of your hand. If you only draw one card, your chances of improving are only about 1 in 11.

As for three-card flushes and straights, your chances of filling either on the draw are pretty dismal — almost 1 in 30 for the flush, 1 in 68 for a closed straight (such as A-2-3, 4-5-8, or Q-K-A), and 1 in 23 for an open straight (3-4-5 or 10-J-Q, for example). In most games, the size of the pot won't be large enough to justify taking those kinds of odds.

Drawing One Card

When you have four good cards to build your hand on, the odds become quite a bit more favorable. You stand about a 1 in 5 chance of completing a flush, and about a 1 in 6 chance of filling a straight that's open at both ends (e.g., a 4-5-6-7, when a 3 or an 8 can complete the sequence). A straight that's open on only one end (such as A-2-3-4) or an inside straight (such as 4-5-7-8) is more difficult to fill, with about 1 in 12 odds. You have about a 1 in 23.5 chance of filling a straight flush that's open at both ends, but the odds against you double to about 1 in 47 for an inside straight flush or one that's open only on one end.