To Begin With Draw Poker is the basic game from which many new games have been created. What you need for this game is between 2 and 7 players, a standard 52-card pack of playing cards, a decent table and some playing chips.

In many ways this is the simplest poker game played in the world but that doesn't mean it is easy to be good at it, just easy to know how to play it.

The Object is to make the best hand you can and win the pot of money, either by skill or strength. [Remember : You may sit down with friends but they are just faces when you are in a hand]

The Play The game can be broken down into three, The Deal, The Draw and The Showdown.

• The Deal Elect a dealer by cutting cards. All players put a small amount of money into the middle of the table to create a pot. These are called Antes and the amount is agreed prior to the start.
  The dealer shuffles, the player to their right cuts the pack and then the dealer deals five cards face down to each player, one at a time in clockwise rotation round the table.
  The player on the dealer's left has the immediate choice of opening the betting by placing money into the pot or passing that choice to the next player by saying "check". That player then has the same option.
  If a player opens by putting money into the pot (makes a bet), then the next player must either;
  
  
  • Call Exactly equal the bet put into the pot and say "call".
  • Raise At least double the bet put into pot and say "raise".
  • Pass Place your cards with the discards and say "pass".
  
  The betting round continues until all players wishing to continue to play have placed an equal amount into the pot. There can be several raises or re-raises in the round which may reduce the number of players. If only one is left then they win the hand and the pot. If more than one is left then they move onto the draw round.
  If no player opens, then all cards are thrown in and the dealer shuffles and deals again with a further ante added to the pot.
• The Draw Again starting from the left of the dealer, players discard from their hand somewhere from 0-5 cards. pat. [the point of the draw is to try and improve your hand]
  Discarding none (0) is called staying
  When all draws have been completed a new betting round starts with the player who opened in the first round. (if they have passed due to a raise then the next person is first to speak)
  If one player drives away all the others by their bet then they win the pot and a new hand starts.
• The Showdown If two people are left after the final round of betting then they must show their hands to see who wins. The player who last increased the betting has to show first and if the caller of their bet wishes to fold without showing they can (therefore losing).
  The exception to the rule about discarding hands is where the variation of Draw being played requires openers. So in 'Jacks or better', where to open the betting a player must have at least a pair of Jacks, they must be shown to all players after the hand is completed, regardless of what happened to the hand during the play.

The Betting The way in which players bet is agreed prior to the start of the game (refer to the main Poker page for help) but it will almost always be Table Stakes. This means players put an amount of money on the table in front of them and it is only with this that they can bet. If they run out of money in a hand then they are said to be 'going all in'.

Special Rules It is usual and generally best to have some rules for special occasions where people act improperly or you want limit the time of playing or a minimum amount of money to start with, etc. These are agreed before a game starts by all players.