Draw Poker Games
Each player is dealt five cards, one at a time, all face down. The remaining deck is placed aside and protected by placing a marker on it. Players pick up their cards and hold them in their hands, being cautious to keep them covered from the other players view. The first betting round occurs starting with the player to the dealer's left. Should more than one player remain after this round, the draw phase begins.
Each player stipulates how many of his cards he wishes to replace and discards the same amount hand. The remaining deck is taken back and after a burn card (a card dealt from the top of a deck, placed aside and unused) is dealt. Each player is dealt the same number of cards he thrown away so that each player again has five cards. A second betting round occurs after the draw phase followed by a showdown if more than one player remains.
A common house rule in some places is that a player may not replace more than three cards unless he draws four cards whilst keeping an ace or wild card. This rule is only needed for low-limit social poker games where many players will stay for the draw. In more serious poker games it is unnecessary and not used.
A rule that is used by many casinos is that a player is not allowed to draw five successive cards from the deck. Should a player want to replace all five of his cards he is only given four of them in turn. The other players are given their draws and then the dealer returns to that player to give him his fifth replacement.
Another common house rule is that the bottom card of the deck is never given as a replacement card. This keeps away from the possibility of someone who might have seen the bottom card to use that that information. If the deck is depleted during the draw before all poker players have received their replacement cards, the last players can receive cards chosen randomly from the discarded cards.
Acey Deucey (A's and 2's)
This game plays the same as Basic Five Card Draw, except that
all Aces and all Twos are wild cards. Any player with one in his hand
can designate that card as any card from the deck that best suits his
hand. Eight wild cards is a lot of wild cards, so expect big hands.
Pregnant Three's (3's, 6's, and 9's)
Five Card Draw, all Threes, Sixes, and Nines are wild cards.
This is twelve wild cards, folks. You either have four of a kind or
you have stayed in the hand too long.
Heinz 57 (5's and 7's)
Five Card Draw, all Fives and all Sevens are wild cards.
Honky Tonk
A High/Low Draw game where the pot is split between highest
and lowest hands, AND Kings are wild in those hands called Low and Threes
are wild in those hands called High.
Italian Poker
Five cards are dealt to each player. The player to the dealer's left
opens a betting round. Following the betting round, the dealer deals
two cards face-up in the center of the table, placing an indicator of
some sort (ex. coin or chip) on the first card flipped up of the two.
The player to the dealer's left now has the option to draw one or two
cards. If the player discards both cards, then the dealer gives the
two community cards to that player in exchange. If the player only discards
one card, then the dealer gives the card with the indicator on it to
the player, puts the indicator on the other card, and flips a new card
from the top of the deck to replenish the one that has been given to
the player. The same option then goes to the next player in clockwise
order. The dealer continues to replenish cards that are taken by players,
placing the indicator on the one card that was first flipped of the
two. This substitution-draw restricts the draw to one or two cards,
and goes right up until the dealer, who has the same option. There is
a second betting round. Best hand wins.
Jacks or Better, Trips to Win
Five cards dealt. Initial betting round can only be opened by a player
holding a Pair of Jacks or higher. A player can only win the pot if
that player is holding cards that are worth a Three of a Kind or higher.
If no player can open the betting round, or if no player can win the
game, then each player re-antes and the cards are redealt by the player
to the left of the dealer.
Kings and Little Ones
Kings are wild in everyone's hand as well as the lowest card in each
player's hand.
Pass the Trash
All players are dealt seven cards. Each player determines which cards
they wish to discard. Rather than throwing these cards away as in most
Draw games, the cards are passed to the player to the person's left.
From the person's right comes the same amount of cards that the player
to the right is discarding. For example, if the dealer determines that
there will be one pass of 3 cards, then each player passes the 3 cards
they do not want to the left and receives 3 cards from the player to
the right...hence, pass the trash.
Variations (Pass the Trash)
Passing: The dealer determines how many rounds of passing there will
be and how many cards each round will consist of. The popular form is
3 passes, the first is of one card, the second of two cards, and the
third of three cards. In this version, the final pass can really damage
hands that are already holding a full house or players who are holding
low hands and who get passed 3 high cards. Passing is done at the same
time, so no player can look at the cards that have been passed to them
until they pass cards of their own.
Mix up the pass so the first is a pass of three cards to your immediate
left, followed by a pass of two cards two spots to the left, and a pass
of one card three spots to the left. (or to the left right, then across)
Psycho
In a sense, this game starts off as five card draw and ends as seven
card stud. The dealer should specify a low maximum draw, as the rules
will indicate. Five cards are dealt to each player. After a betting
round and a draw of cards specified by the dealer before the game, each
player turns up three cards from their hand. The player with the best
hand showing opens up a second betting round.
After the second betting round, each player is dealt another card face up. The player with the best hand showing opens a third betting round.
After the third betting round, each player is dealt a seventh card face down, now having two down, four up, and one down. The player with the best hand showing opens a final betting round, before the showdown.
Six Back to Five
Six cards dealt. After the first betting round, each player draws as
per normal Draw game rules. The exception is that each player draws
one less card than they discard. This means that if a player wants three
new cards, he is going to have to discard four cards out of his hand.
If a player wants to discard three cards, then he is only going to get
two cards back.
With each player drawing one less card than he or she receives, every
player will now have a five card hand. A final betting round ensues
and the best five card hand wins.
This allows players to get better hands and hopefully, stay in longer,
compensating for only two betting rounds.
Snowmen and Hockey Sticks (8's and 7's)
Five Card Draw, Sevens and Eights are wild cards.
Stedman's (5's and 10's)
Five Card Draw, Fives and Tens are wild. Named after the old chain of
five and dimers. Newer names to this game were Woolco and now Walmart's.
Trees
Five cards dealt. Betting round. Players freely exchange cards with
other players, always receiving the same number of cards as is traded
away. When all players are finished trading, there is a final betting
round. Best hand wins.
The only rule when trading is that the number of cards traded must be
the same as what is received ("Who wants to trade 3 cards?",
"Does anybody want to trade 2 cards?").
This trading round continues until no pair of players wants to trade
any more cards. There is a second betting round, followed by a showdown.
Whiskey Poker
The dealer deals five cards face-down to each player, as well an extra
five-card hand, the "kitty". First betting round. Beginning
with the player to the dealer's left and continuing in clockwise order
around the table, each player has the option of either exchanging their
hand with the kitty, or keeping the hand that has been dealt to them.
When a player exchanges with the kitty, he or she takes the kitty and
turns his or her former hand face-up in the center of the table. If
no player decides to exchange with the kitty up to and including the
dealer, then the kitty is turned face-up in the center of the table.
Beginning to the left of the player who took the kitty and continuing
in clockwise order around the table, each player draws as many cards
as they want from the kitty, turning the discards from their own hand
face-up in place of the cards taken. This way, each player always has
five cards and the kitty always has five cards. This continues round
and round the table.
When a player sees fit, that player knocks on the table on his or her
turn rather than exchange cards. This signals that each other player
will only get one more chance to exchange cards with the kitty. Once
the sequence reaches the player to the right of the player who knocked,
there is a second and final betting round.
A player may decline from exchanging cards with the kitty, but cannot
do so twice in a row. When a player has already declined exchanging
cards with the kitty, on that player's next turn, he or she must exchange
at least one card or knock.
Features to change the game
Canadian Draw
This game plays the same as New York Draw, on top of which a fourflush,
that is four of your five cards are of the same suit, beats an outside
straight but loses to two pairs. Therefore, the hierarchy of hands in
this game is Pair, Outside Straight, Fourflush, Two Pairs. Evidently,
Scarne believed that people in Canada play poker like this.
High / Low
This feature is 'split-pot poker', where the pot is split between TWO
winning players. In High/Low, the pot is split between the player that
has the best hand at the table, and the player that has the worst hand
at the table.
Leg Poker
This feature is more like two games in one. Most commonly played as
double-legged poker, this variation requires that a player win the game
twice before he can collect the pot. The game plays as it normally would,
except that when a player wins with the best hand, that player does
not yet collect the pot. Instead, that players has earned a leg towards
winning the pot. The pot remains in the center of the table, and the
same game is dealt again, complete with betting rounds. The first player
to win two legs wins the giant pot. A Three-Legged Race is triple-legged
poker, where a player must win three legs before claiming the pot.
Lowball
This is 'all-low poker'. The worst hand at the table wins the pot. It
is especially challenging in Draw Poker, where you may draw higher cards
than the ones you threw away, or where you may accidentally pair up
with one of the cards in your hand.
New York Draw
Made popular by John Scarne, in this game, an outside straight, that
is four cards in numerical sequence without break, beats a pair but
loses to two pairs. This variant offers (or is meant to offer) more
reason to chase a straight.
Pay For Your Draw
This is a feature that can be used to build the pot of any Draw Poker
game. The dealer attaches a 'price' to drawing a card. For example,
the dealer determines that it costs one dollar for each card that a
player wants to draw. A player drawing three cards would have to put
three dollars into the pot on top of the amount accumulated from betting.
Roll 'Em
This is a feature that can be used to increase the number of betting
rounds in a Draw Poker game. When players 'roll' their cards, they reveal
them from their hand ONE CARD AT A TIME. After each player has shown
a card from their hand to the rest of the table, a betting round follows
opened by the player with the best hand showing. Players reveal their
cards simultaneously so that there is no advantage gained. In this way,
it is a Draw game being played like a Stud game.
Roll Your Own
Draw Poker games are popular with wild cards, determined in advance
by the dealer. This variant allows players to determine what card they
want to have wild in their hand. Obviously, if they have two or three
cards that match, they will determine that that card is wild in their
hand. Or, one low card and a pair of Aces becomes three Aces.
Spanish Draw
This variation, which can be added to any poker game, means that all
Twos to Sixes are removed from the deck. That means twenty cards out
of play, and 32 cards remaining. Everything otherwise plays the same.
With The Bug
This is a feature usually used for the entire night. One Joker is put
into the deck. That Joker is called 'the bug', but it has limited wild
card value. It can only be used to complete a Straight or a Flush. Otherwise,
it has no value. This would be stipulated as opposed to tables that
play with Jokers as wild cards that have no limited wild card value
and can be designated as any card to complete any hand.
With A Qualifier
When a qualifier is added to a Draw Poker game, it means that for a
player to open the betting round before the draw, that player must have
a hand of minimum value determined by the dealer. For example, if the
dealer determines that a pair of Jacks or better are required for a
player to open the first betting round, then the player wishing to bet
must show the other players at the table the cards from his hand that
meet the qualifier. That player then returns the cards to his hand and
opens the betting round. The betting round is followed by the draw.
If no player has the qualifier, then nobody can open the first betting
round, in which case the game is 'reset'. That is, all cards are re-dealt
and all players must 're-ante'. This continues until somebody has the
qualifier to open the first betting round.
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Last updated:
June 2, 2005
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