Introduction to draw poker

 

Draw poker was made famous by countless Western movies and is a popular poker variation online. This form of poker involves players being dealt all their cards unseen by opponents, only betting patterns and the amount of cards drawn (swapped) give clues as to their holdings. This article introduces the most common form of draw poker – 5 card draw, alternative draw poker games are noted at the end.

5 Card Draw

We start this article by running through a hand of 5 card draw poker, noting the betting rules and game structure. The importance of betting and ‘drawing’ information in assessing the strength of your opponent’s hands are then covered. Finally we note how to adapt to opponent’s tendencies.
5-Card Draw is played with a dealer button and the small / big blind as used in Holdem games. It is also played in the different betting formats of No-Limit, Pot-Limit and Fixed Limit. Draw poker is played with a maximum of six players.
After blinds are posted each player receives 5 cards ‘face down’ - visible only to the individual player. The player to the left of the big blind then kicks off the betting which is completed once all players have reacted to the last raise or have folded their hand.

Drawing Cards

After betting the player to the left of the dealer button starts the draw by discarding any number of their cards. A player may also choose not to discard any cards – this is known as ‘Standing Pat’. These are replaced with new cards from the deck. Once all players have drawn the second betting round also begins with the player to the left of the dealer button. Once betting is completed the hands are shown down with the strongest 5-card poker hand winning the pot.

In fixed limit games the betting amount doubles between the pre-draw and after draw betting rounds. There are a maximum of 4 bets and raises in fixed limit games. In pot-limit or no-limit games it is possible that a player runs out of chips before a hand is complete. In this case the pot to which they contributed is separated and a side pot created for those players who wish to continue betting.

With comparatively little information on which to base decisions, combining the betting of opponents with the number of cards drawn is the primary way of assessing the strength of hands. This information is opponent specific, as is the chance that any single opponent deliberately discards a number of cards in order to represent a stronger holding.

Betting Strategies

Common combinations include raising and discarding 3 cards, which represents a high pair such as aces. Discarding one card could be either 2 pair or a drawing hand, if the player has raised (or re-raised) before the draw then a good 2 pair is more likely. Discarding 2 cards often represents trips, however since many players will keep an unpaired high card with their pair (for example an ace) then their betting strength can give you clues about their real strength.

Past history of betting patterns for your opponents is critical to winning at draw poker, it is always worth looking at the hand-history too see what bets and draws are likely to mean for different opponents. It should also be noted that the dealer button position is extremely valuable in draw poker – you will get to see the bets and draws of your opponents before you decide how to act.

Variations of Draw Poker

While 5 card draw is the most common draw poker game there are also other variations. These include ‘lowball draw’ where players are trying to make the lowest poker hand, and 2-7 triple draw in which players 3 drawing rounds to draw to a low hand.