How to Play 5 Card Poker?
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The 5 card draw is probably one of the easiest poker variants out there and can act as a stepping stone for beginners in the poker world. Although it is not as famous as its other variants, it’s commonly played at home or online and has been gaining a lot of traction in recent times. Fortunately, GetMega lets you get better at 5 card poker by letting you play against people from all over the country. So, read on to know more about the 5 card poker rules and hands so you can beat others easily during matches!
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Order of Hands in 5 Card Poker
Before moving to the 5 card poker rules, the first thing you should know about is the kind of cards you are dealing with. So, to help you out, here’s a list of poker hands in their ranking order that you must learn by heart so you can take down all your opponents in no time by bringing out your best cards at the right time.
● Royal Flush
A Royal Flush consists of a Ten, Jack, King, Queen and Ace of the same suit. It is the strongest hand in a game of 5 card draw poker. Drawing the royal flush means nothing can stop you from winning this round.
● Straight Flush
A Straight Flush is the second best one amongst all the 5 card poker hands and consists of 5 cards of the same suit in sequential order. For example - a three, four, five, six and seven all of ♣.
● Four-of-a-kind
If out of the 5 cards drawn, four are of the same denomination then you have something called four-of-a-kind which is the third highest hand in the 5 card poker hands.
● Full House
Three cards of a single denomination and two of the other denomination results in a Full House. For example, a pair of 2s and three-of-a-kind 3s
● Flush
There are four suits in a deck of cards and if you have five cards of different denominations, but all from the same suit, then you have a Flush.
● Straight
Straight, as the name suggests, consists of 5 cards in a sequential order and they don’t even need to be of the same suit. For example, a five, six, seven, eight and nine of any suit mixed up.
● Three-of-a-kind
Having three cards of the same denomination means that you are dealing with a Three-of-a-kind. Don’t underestimate this hand as it has defeated a lot of people not just in at-home games but also in professional tournaments.
● Two pair
You know what’s better than a pair of cards? Two pairs of cards! Any two pairs of cards will do out of the 5 cards in your hand to help you beat others. For example, a pair of 5s and a pair of 7s.
● One pair
Most of the poker games are played with a pair of cards because they are more likely to appear in your hand and poker 5 card is no exception. However, as having a one-pair hand is quite common, it can be hard to beat someone unless you have a number pair that’s higher than your opponents’.
● High card
A hand with none of the combinations mentioned above is judged by the highest card. If two or more players have the same high card, then the hand is judged by its second highest card, then third and so on.
If two or more players have the same hand in poker 5 cards, then the one with the highest card wins that round. To know more about the order of hands in poker, read this detailed article!
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5 Card Poker Rules and Draw
Now you should be familiar with the different poker 5 card hands. So, it's time to move ahead and learn how the game takes place and along with basic rules to make sure you don’t feel overwhelmed while playing poker online.
1. Gameplay
Unlike the rules of other games, 5 card poker rules aren’t just limited to how each player will have his/her turn, but also on how the entire match will progress and what choices you can pick and strategies with to make the most out of these poker 5 cards.
● First the dealer deals everyone 5 cards out of the deck.
● The bets are placed, which can happen in the following two ways:-
○ Ante- Ante is more popular in friendly games. In this method, everyone places a bet of a fixed amount that’s decided beforehand.
○ Blinds-. In this there will be a small blind (which is half the amount of big blind) and a big blind.
● Once the bets are placed, the player has the option to discard a part of their cards and ask for new ones. He/She can choose to skip it if he/she likes the cards in his/her hand (known as standing pat).
● After getting the new cards, another round of betting starts in which you have 3 choices:-
○ Call- While calling, you place in the same bet as the player before you.
○ Raise- Raising means you place in the same bet as the last player and increase the bet.
○ Fold- If you are not satisfied with the cards you have, you can give back your cards face down to the dealer, which means you’re quitting that match of 5 card poker.
Read about call, raise and fold in detail in this article.
● Now in this step, all the players still standing show their cards and the person with the highest hand wins everything from the pot.
2. Rules
While rules may vary from game to game, these are some of the most common 5 card poker rules followed in all variants -
● One of the most obvious 5 card poker rules is that the game would be played only with a deck of 52 cards.
● No more than 6 players can play the game at a single time because of limitation of cards.
● The last card is never given as a replacement because there is a possibility that somebody might have seen it.
● No suit is ranked higher than the other, which means cards of any suit be it ♣, ♥, ♦ and ♠ have the same priority if they are the same number.
● There is a set initial betting amount, subsequent raise amount and maximum amount above which no one can bet.
● Last but not the least, if 2 or more people have the exact same 5 card poker hand (in terms of ranks) then the pot is distributed equally to them.
Now that you have gone through the basics and learned all the 5 card poker rules and hands, it’s time to combine them with your skills and strategise your way to the top of the leaderboard in no time! Start practicing by downloading the GetMega Poker app today!
