Handout 05 · No-limit at the WSOP · Limit elsewhere
Five-card draw
The oldest game on the syllabus and the only one here where the high hand wins. One draw, two betting rounds, nothing on the table to look at.
- Cards
- Five, all face down
- Draws
- One
- Betting
- Two rounds; no-limit in the WSOP mix N1
- Forced bets
- Blinds (modern) or antes (traditional)
- Best hand
- Royal flush
- Ranking
- Standard high poker
1How it is dealt and bet
Each player gets five cards face down. There is a round of betting. Each player still in then discards from none to five cards and receives replacements. There is a second round of betting, and the best five-card high hand wins. B N1
Sources describe different games under one name
| Point | Modern mixed-game form | Traditional card-room form |
|---|---|---|
| Forced bets | Button and blinds B | Button and an ante from every player R |
| Who may open | Anyone: "guts to open" B | Often "jacks or better": you need at least a pair of jacks to open, and if nobody can, everyone antes again R |
| Betting | No-limit in the WSOP's dealer's-choice list; N1 limit, with the bet doubling after the draw, in BARGE's version B | Limit, doubling after the draw R |
| Joker | BARGE plays with a "bug" that counts only as an ace or to finish a straight or flush, and notes the game is sometimes played without it B | Covered in its own section of the rulebook R |
| Drawing five | The WSOP's rules for its five-card split draw games let a player take five cards in a row W | Four at once; the fifth comes after everyone else has drawn R |
This page assumes the modern form with a plain 52-card deck. A bug changes every number below.
2Hand ranking
The ranking every hold'em player knows, from best to worst: straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, no pair. The ace is high, and may also be low in the straight 5-4-3-2-A.
- 5♠4♥3♦2♣A♦ beats A♠A♥A♣K♣Q♦Here the wheel is a straight, and a straight beats three aces. It is the lowest straight.
- 3♠3♥2♦2♣4♦ beats A♠A♥K♦Q♣J♦The smallest two pair beats the biggest single pair.
- K♠K♥A♦3♣2♦ beats K♦K♣Q♦J♣10♦Same pair; the highest side card decides.
| Dealt | Hands | Share |
|---|---|---|
| No pair | 1,302,540 | 50.12% |
| One pair | 1,098,240 | 42.26% |
| Two pair | 123,552 | 4.75% |
| Three of a kind | 54,912 | 2.11% |
| Straight | 10,200 | 0.39% |
| Flush | 5,108 | 0.20% |
| Full house | 3,744 | 0.14% |
| Four of a kind | 624 | 0.02% |
| Straight flush | 40 | 0.002% |
Our evaluator was run over every one of these deals and reproduces the standard counts exactly, which is also how we test it.
3The draw
| You keep | Draw | Improve | Broken down |
|---|---|---|---|
| One pair | 3 | 28.7% | two pair 16.0%, trips 11.4%, full house 1.0%, quads 0.3% |
| One pair and an ace kicker | 2 | 25.9% | two pair 17.2%, trips 7.8%, full house 0.8%, quads 0.1% |
| Two pair | 1 | 8.5% | full house 8.5% |
| Three of a kind | 2 | 10.4% | full house 6.1%, quads 4.3% |
| Three of a kind and a kicker | 1 | 8.5% | full house 6.4%, quads 2.1% |
| Four to a flush | 1 | 19.1% | 9 cards of 47 |
| Open-ended straight draw | 1 | 17.0% | 8 cards of 47 |
| Inside straight draw | 1 | 8.5% | 4 cards of 47 |
Keeping a kicker with a pair costs about three points of improvement and cuts your chance of three of a kind by a third (11.4% down to 7.8%). What it buys is disguise: you drew two, not three.
What a draw count is consistent with
The number of cards a player takes is the only information the rules hand you. It follows from the table above, not from anyone's opinion, that:
- Three cards is the natural draw to one pair.
- Two cards fits three of a kind, or a pair with a kicker.
- One card fits two pair, a four-card straight or flush draw, or three of a kind with a kicker. Two of those improve less than one time in eleven, and the other improves less than one time in five.
- No cards fits a straight or better, which is dealt 0.76% of the time, or a bluff.
4Starting hands
What we could not source. We did not find a published five-card draw strategy that met the standard used on the rest of this site (a named author writing in an established outlet about the modern form of the game), so this section gives only what can be counted. Our solver work does not cover this game either.
- Half of all dealt hands have no pair at all, and another 42% have exactly one. A pair of some kind is the ordinary good hand.
- Two pair or better is dealt 7.6% of the time: about one hand in thirteen.
- A dealt pair ends as two pair or better 28.7% of the time when you draw three. Seven times in ten, the pair you start with is the hand you show down.
5The key decisions
- Before the draw, the hand you hold is usually the hand you will finish with: a pair improves 28.7% of the time, two pair 8.5%.
- At the draw, you choose between the best chance to improve and the best disguise. The table in section 3 prices that choice exactly.
- After the draw, weigh what each opponent's draw count is consistent with before you weigh your own cards.
6Common mistakes
- Drawing to an inside straight. Computed Four cards in 47: 8.5%.
- Overrating two pair after the draw. Computed It fills 8.5% of the time, so it is almost always still two pair.
- Counting the wheel wrong. In this game A-2-3-4-5 is a straight. In deuce-to-seven it is ace-high; in ace-to-five it is the best low.
- Assuming the house rules. Ask about openers, the joker, and the betting before the first hand.
Five-card draw: cheat sheet
Seminar 27 · Handout 05 · high, five cards, one draw
The order of play
Blinds or antes → deal 5 → bet → one draw → bet → showdown. High hand wins.
Ranking, best first
Straight flush · four of a kind · full house · flush · straight · three of a kind · two pair · pair · no pair. A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest straight.
Odds to carry (47 unseen)
| Keep | Draw | Improve | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pair | 3 | 28.7% | two pair 16.0, trips 11.4, better 1.3 |
| Pair + kicker | 2 | 25.9% | two pair 17.2, trips 7.8, better 0.9 |
| Two pair | 1 | 8.5% | full house |
| Trips | 2 | 10.4% | full house 6.1, quads 4.3 |
| Four-flush | 1 | 19.1% | flush |
| Open-ended straight | 1 | 17.0% | straight |
| Inside straight | 1 | 8.5% | straight |
| Dealt | Share |
|---|---|
| No pair | 50.1% |
| One pair | 42.3% |
| Two pair or better | 7.6% |
Ask before you sit
Blinds or antes? Jacks or better to open? Is there a joker? Limit or no-limit?
seminar27.com · Odds computed by the site's own script. Rules: BARGE rulebook, Robert's Rules of Poker, WSOP live-action rules. No published strategy or solver baseline is cited for this game. For education.