While rare in Casino and Tournament play, five-card draw is common in home poker; it is often the first variation of the game, showed to novices.
For betting, an ante is usually used – this is when all of the players put into the center pot an agreed amount of chips. This may happen before the hands are dealt, or right after.
Each player gets dealt five cards, one at a time, and all face down. The remaining cards in the deck are placed in the center. Each player picks up his hand and analyzes it. Then a betting round takes place.
Each player gives up as many cards as he or she sees fit – in order to attain as good a hand as possible. The dealer gives the players, randomly from the deck, exactly as many cards as they gave up originally. It is necessary that each player has five cards at all times.
After the “draw” a second betting round takes place. Then, if necessary a “show-down” may occur. The player with the best hand, wins the pot.
Sometimes five-card draw is played on what is called a stripped deck. This version is sometimes known as “seven-to-ace” or “ace-to-seven”. It may be played with up to five players. When there are four or less players, a normal 32-card deck without jokers, with ranging ranks from ace to seven, is used. When there are five players, the sixes are added to make a 36-card deck. In this case the deck contains only eight or nine different card ranks, as opposed to the 13 used in a standard deck. What is the point of doing this? Well it effects the probabilities of making specific hands: flush, full house, four of a kind, etc.
Sometimes, though certainly not in tournament play a “wild card” is selected, when the dealer randomly opens the deck in the middle and blindly chooses a card. The “wild card” maybe any card which the holder of the hand wishes it to be, in order to make his hand desirable. If Jokers are kept in the deck, which is sometimes permitted, then they are automatically deemed as a “wild card”.
