Five Card Draw Poker

Introduction:  The Poker game that most of us recall from our formative years is the traditional game of Five Card Draw Poker.  It’s the game depicted in American films about the wild west and is, today, the basis for the Video Poker phenomenon.

History:  The old American Westerns that flooded film screens fifty years ago always contained a standard saloon scene wherein the protagonist played cards at a table opposite his nemesis.  When the last card was dealt, said protagonist always drew the card he needed to win the pot.  A gunfight always ensued and the protagonist always prevailed.

‘What game could the two have been playing?’ you ask.  ‘What game was capable of sending a man into such a rage he would sooner be shot than concede victory?’  The answer: Five Card Draw Poker.  It’s quick, it’s dirty and there is little that can be done if luck isn’t on your side.  Five Card Draw Poker was a popular home game in the mid-20th century and its appearance in popular U.S. films and television shows made household names of the actors who played in them.  It also turned regular guys into gambling fans.  To this day, Five Card Draw Poker, though less prolific in land casinos, maintains a loyal online following.

Players looking for a stress-free, enjoyable gambling outlet flock to their favourite websites in order to participate in Five Card Draw Poker.  They also join chat rooms and forums wherein their affinity for Five Card Draw Poker can be shared.

Variants:  Five Card Draw betting protocol is governed by the online poker room offering it. There are usually limitations established in those games intended for the moderate player.  For high rollers and those with extensive Draw Poker experience, there are also online poker tables with no limits. 

Five Card Draw Poker can also be played with “wild cards”.  In these cases, any particular card value or card can be used to represent any other card in the deck.  If deuces are wild and you are dealt a deuce, that card can be used to represent any other card in the deck.  If you need the deuce to be Ace of hearts, then you can use your deuce in lieu of the Ace of hearts.

Rules: If you are not familiar with Poker, concepts like card values, combinations and hand rankings can be quite intimidating.  Focus on one idea– memorize the order of hand rankings and, in most cases, play hands towards the low-middle to high-middle of the totem.

There are 52 cards in a standard deck, and the cards range in value from Ace high to deuce.  There are also four suits of cards:  diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs.  The highest valued five card combinations in a game of Five Card Draw Poker are as follows:

• Royal Flush – consists of a Straight Flush with an Ace high
• Straight Flush – consists of a five card sequence all of the same suit
• Four of a Kind – consists of four cards of the same rank
• Full House – consists of three of one kind and a pair of another kind
• Flush – consists of five cards of the same suit
• Three of a Kind – consists of three cards of the same rank
• Two Pair – consists of two sets of cards of the same rank
• One Pair – consists of two cards of the same rank
• High Card – consists of the highest ranked card when there are no other hands of significance in the game

Betting:  There are betting parameters that are established on each Five Card Draw Poker table in the online casino. You’ll find the more experienced players at tables with high minimums and no limit betting. The recreational players are better served by playing at tables with low minimums and maximum raising parameters.