Draw poker is the simplest, most basic variation of poker. This is a good game to start with for the beginning poker player, then. Although the game is quite uncommon nowadays, it is the mother of all poker games.
Being the most simple poker game, draw poker rules are not hard to learn. Basically, the objective of the game is to work up to the best possible five card poker hand by discarding certain cards and getting new ones.
The game begins by selecting a dealer (the person to their left deals next). Before each hand begins, each player must ante up (pay a small fee into the pot). After this, all players are dealt five cards face down. This is followed by a round of betting. The person to the left of the dealer begins the betting round by either placing a bet, passing, or folding. The next player to the left of them must then decide to do one of these. If the previous player passed, they may also pass, or they may place a bet. However, if the previous player bet, they must either call that bet by placing an equal amount in, or they may raise that bet by placing more money or chips on the line. Draw poker rules stipulate no wild cards.
After the play comes back to the dealer and the dealer has placed their bet, other plays then have the option of calling outstanding bets or folding. However, no more raises are permitted once the play has passed back around to the dealer.
At this time, players who are still in have the opportunity to discard however many cards they want and receive the same amount back from the dealer. Starting to their left, the dealer must then deal each player their replacement cards.
Now a second betting round takes place. As before, betting proceeds around the table until it comes back to the dealer. Then, everyone must either call or fold. At this point, a showdown takes place if there is more than one person left in the game. Otherwise, the remaining player takes the pot and does not need to reveal their hand. For the showdown, all players left in the game reveal their hands and the person with the best hand wins, taking the entire pot.
