Rules of Draw Poker

Draw poker is the traditional kind of poker. These rules will teach you the basics of poker.

Cards
An ordinary deck of cards with 52 playing cards is used.

Sequence of the cards
The standard sequence of the playing cards has the Ace as the highest and the 2s as the lowest.

Purpose
The purpose of the game is to win the pool of money, which every player has made a contribution to. During the game the pool is added to, and each player can choose to drop out. The player, who at the end of the game has the highest combination of cards on his hand, wins the pool.

Dealing
Cards are dealt one at a time to each player until every one has five cards on the hand. The rest of the cards are placed face downwards beside the dealer. During the dealing no one must see which cards the other players receive.

Combinations
The five cards of the hand can create ten different combinations. They have the following rank (beginning from the lowest and ending with the highest):

High card	This is the lowest hand you can have. It has no combinations, and its value is estimated by the highest card.
One pair	One pair is two cards of the same rank (e.g. two Jacks). The color has no importance. The rest of the hand consists of three different cards.
Two pairs	Four cards which creates two pairs (e.g. two Kings and two 9s), and one card.
Three of a kind	Three cards of the same rank and two different cards which do not fit in. (Three of a kind is also called Trips)
Straight	A Straight is when you have five cards that match each other in sequence. The cards do not have to be in the same color! The value of a Straight is estimated by the highest card in the sequence. Frequently, it is permitted that a Straight continues after the Ace, e.g. a sequence beginning with a Queen and ending on three (Queen, King, Ace, two, three). Consequently, the highest card in this Flush is three.
Flush	Flush is a hand of the same suit. If two players have a Flush, the player with the highest card wins. If the players’ highest cards are equal, the height of the next card decides, etc.
Full House	Full House consists of three of a kind and a pair. If two players have a Full House, the player with the highest Trips wins (e.g. a hand of three 8s and a pair of Jacks win over three 6s and a pair of Aces). The pair in Full House has no significance in the comparison.
Four of a kind	Four cards of the same rank. The highest combination wins (Aces being the highest; 2s the lowest). (Four of a kind is also called Quads)
Straight Flush	The next best hand in Poker is Straight Flush. It consists of a sequence of five cards of the same suit. Once again, the value of the highest card decides who wins. If two players have equally high Straight Flushes, the one with the highest value of the suit wins. The rank of the suits is the following (beginning with the highest and ending with the lowest): - Spades - Hearts - Diamonds - Clubs
Royal Straight Flush	This hand is the supreme in Poker. It consists of the five highest cards of the same suit; Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10. As in Straight Flush, the value of the suit decides who wins if two players should have Royal Straight Flush.

The game
After the dealing every player has to contribute to the pool to stay in the game. The price for staying in the game can increase later on. The players who are left have the right to change one or more cards with the cards from the stock (to buy new cards). After having bought cards, the remaining players once again make a bid to the pool. If only one player bids and the other ones drop out, the one remaining wins the whole pool. If there is more than one bidder, the player with the highest combination wins. Afterwards, the next player deals.

Bets
Poker is badly played without a stake. Of course, if you are an inexperienced player it would be wise to practice without real bets. But notice that if you practice all the time without even imaginary bets, you will have a harder time judging your cards when it is the real deal.
Poker is often played with cool cash, but chips whose value have been set before playing, work better with online poker.
The foundation of each pool is made by the dealer. Before he deals, he puts one chip on the table. After the dealing, every player has to decide on whether or not their cards are good enough to attend the game about the pool.
The one who has the lead (A) decides first. If he wishes to stay in the game, he must put two chips in the pool. He can also choose to give up – then he throws away his cards without paying anything.
The next player (B) has three alternatives:
1) he can give up,
2) he can join in by paying 2 chips and
3) he can raise the pool (double up, though, is the maximum).
Let us say he doubles up to 4 chips. These 4 chips are now the basic rate for the next player’s choice. He can choose to raise the pool once more, or he can drop out without paying anything. When it is the dealer’s turn, he has the same options as the other players. If he wants to participate in the game, he must pay the same as the last player did. The turn keeps shifting until everyone has paid equally many chips – or has chosen to drop put.
A player can only raise the pool – the basic rate – if another player already has raised it during the game. Consequently, the same player cannot raise the pool again if none of the other players have raised before his turn. Neither is it possible to raise the pool freely. Every player must only raise the pool with twice the chips already in it. There is no requirement of doubling; if last bid was 8 chips, the next player can chose only to raise the pool to 10 (max. being 8 x 2 = 16). The price for the next player to enter the round is thus 10 chips and the maximum raise being 20.
After the rounds those players who are still in the game for the pool, have the right to buy new cards. They are allowed to throw away the cards on their hand and draw the same number of new cards from the stock. It is possible to buy up to 5 new cards. The players change their cards in turns and get new ones from the stock by the dealer.

2nd round
After having bought new cards, a new round is started. The lead starts the round. He has several options:
1) he can call cheek and thus declare that he wants to stay in the game without raising the pool or
2) raise the pool.
Before the game starts, it is important to decide how much the pool can be raised after the card-buying. Normally, the pool can only be raised with the half of the number of chips in it. Sometimes, though, it is also acceptable that the pool can be doubled – this being the maximum.
The other players in the game have the same options as the lead. If a player raises the pool, the others have to pay the same amount if they want to stay in the game. If they choose not to, their previous bets are lost and they are out. If only one player raises the pool and the other ones lay down their cards, he wins the whole pool. But if more than one player tribute to the pool, the one with the highest combination on his hand wins. If no player raises the pool after they have bought cards, every one show their cards and highest combination wins.
In the 2nd round it is also possible for the game to continue several rounds, if the players take turns in raising the pool. Thus, a player who raises the pool can be outbidded by another player, and then has to decide whether or not he wants to continue raising the pool, or if he will lay down his cards or give up.

Jackpot
In this variant of Poker every player contributes to the pool with a prearranged sum of money before the dealing. Having done this every player in turn can choose to raise the pool or not. If no one raises the pool the cards are dealt again and the prearranged sum of money to the pool is paid once again. If a player raises the pool in this round, a player who passed before can now participate and even raise the pool once more.


See also:
Player tactics
Statistics