5 Card Draw
Five Card Draw (also 5 Card Draw, 5 Card Single Draw)
Five Card Draw is a common draw card variant where each player is dealt five cards face down.
Before any cards are dealt, the two players left of the dealer are required to post the small and big blind respectively. The small blind is half the lower stake limit; where as the big blind is equal to the lower stake limit. The big blind is also the size of the minimum bet.
Blinds are utilized to force the betting action. As a result both blinds are considered to be live bets, and hence the big blind is able to check in addition to raising the bet, calling and folding.
When a player sits down at an active table they have the option of waiting until the big blind comes around to join the play, or alternatively they can post the initial blind (called IB in the client) and joint the next dealt hand. The initial blind is equivalent to the big blind. In addition to prevent blind abuse such as players switching seats or sitting out, a player is required to post the small and big blinds upon re entry if both blinds are missed.
The obligatory posting of the blinds is to ensure fairness and to prevent players from joining in late position and then leaving before having to pay the big blind or from switching seats.
After the blinds have been posted, cards are then dealt. Next commences the first of two betting rounds. Here players are presented with three options; fold their hand and muck their cards, call the bet, or raise the bet. After each player has acted any players remaining in the hand are able to try and improve their hand by drawing up to five new cards. There is also the option to keep their existing cards.
Following the draw, there is a second round of betting which precedes the showdown. At the showdown, players lay down their cards and the player with the winning hand takes the pot.
The Joker
- The players will be alerted as to whether the joker is in use.
- The joker may be used only as an ace, or to complete a straight, flush, or straight flush. (Thus it is not a completely wild card.)
- If the joker is used to make a flush, it will be the highest card of the flush not present in the hand.
- Five aces is the best possible hand (four aces and joker).
For more Five Card Draw information, see Wikipedia.
