Five Card Draw Tips

By Ladbrokes_Poker
for Thepokerdonk.com

Published: February 26, 2010

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The main purpose of Five Card Draw is like most other forms of poker in that you have to attempt to make the best five card poker hands you can, ranking for the worst which is high-card and progressing through pair, two pair, three-of-a-kind, straight, flush, full house, four-of-a-kind, straight flush and the ultimate hand, a royal flush.

To help you in your quest for the holy grail that is a royal flush, a straight flush Ace to ten, you can discard up up to all five of your cards, though the most anyone usually discards is four and that is very rare too.

Like in all forms of poker, position is vital in Five-card draw, with some hands being completely unplayable in early position that actually become playable in later positions at the table. For example, a hand such as 3368K should be folded from up front but it could be OK to limp in on the button. This is mainly because there is generally a lot of raising pre-draw in five-card draw and is a pair of threes worth paying two big blinds with? Almost certainly not.

The great thing about five-card draw is you get to see how many cards your opponents discard, which should give you some information into how strong or weak their holding is. Most of the time a player will draw to three cards which indicates they have a pair in their hand, someone who raises then discards three will usually have a high pair such as queens, kings or aces in their hand.

If a player draws to two cards their most likely holdings are a pair with another high card such as 5579A or they could hold three of a kind and are looking to draw another pair to take them to a full house, a hand such as 666TK is a likely holding.

On rare occasions a player will draw to just a single card which implies the player has two pairs, has three of a kind and is trying to deceive you by drawing to just one card or is holding a straight or flush draw and needs to hit it to have any sort of hand.

One move some players try is to “stand pat” which means they draw no cards as they are happy with their hand. They either have a very powerful hand or they are attempting to portray they have one by not drawing. Fellow players will assume you have at least a straight or flush and will usually fold unless they catch one after the draw. It is a high-risk move but one worth doing from time to time to keep your opponents on their toes.

Five Card Draw Tips

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