Draw poker is any poker variant in which each player is dealt a complete hand before the first betting round, and then develops the hand for later rounds by replacing, or 'drawing', cards.^[1]

The descriptions below assume the reader is familiar with the general game play of poker, and with hand values (both high and low variations). They also make no assumptions about what betting structure is used. In home games, it is typical to use an ante, and betting always begins with the player to the dealer's left. In casino play, it is more common to use blinds; the first betting round thus begins with the player to the left of the big blind, and subsequent rounds begin with the player to the dealer's left, thus draw games are very positional.

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Some sample deals below will assume that a game is being played by four players: Alice, who is dealing in the examples, Bob, who is sitting to her left, Carol to his left, and David to Carol's left.

Standard five-card draw[edit]

This is often the first poker variant learned by most players, and is very common in home games although it is now quite rare in casino and tournament play. Two to eight players can play.^[2]

Other draw games[edit]

Gardena jackpots ('Jacks to open' or simply 'Jackpots')[edit]

Played as above, with standard hand values, and with a single joker in the deck acting as a bug. It is always played with an ante and no blinds. On the first betting round, no player is allowed to open the betting unless their hand already contains a pair of jacks or a better hand. Other players who checked on the first round may subsequently call or raise if someone else opens. If no player opens, a new deal begins and everyone antes again into the same pot. The player who opened the betting keeps their discarded cards near them on the table so that they can prove, if necessary, that they had a sufficient opening hand. For example, a player with the K, J, 9, and 7 of clubs and the J of hearts has a pair of jacks and may open. They may wish to 'break openers' in this case by discarding the jack of hearts in an attempt to make the club flush, so they keep the discarded jack to prove that they were entitled to open.

In addition to the opening requirement, no one is allowed to win a pot with less than three of a kind. In the event no one makes the winning requirement, the pot is moved on to the next hand. The strongest possible hand in this game is five aces which is achieved if the player obtains the four aces plus the joker (joker counts as an ace if there's neither a straight nor a flush to complete).

This can result in some enormous pots, and is where the term 'Jackpot' comes from.

The game is named after the city of Gardena, California, where this game was especially popular from the 1930s to 1970s (though it was always secondary to lowball). At that time, there were more public poker tables in that small city than in all the rest of the United States. Public poker rooms are still a big industry there, though Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and other locations now have many more poker rooms than they did at that time. Because 'Jacks to open' was the primary form of high-hand draw poker played there, traditional draw poker was often described by the retronym 'Guts to open'.

In home games, it is common that when a deal is 'passed out' (that is, when no one opens), the players re-ante, and the qualifier to open is raised to a pair of queens. If that deal is passed out, the qualifier is raised to kings, and finally to aces. This is called 'progressive' jackpots.

California lowball[edit]

This was the primary poker game played in California during the heyday of Gardena in the 1970s.^[3] It is still played today, though its popularity has somewhat lessened since the introduction of stud poker and community card poker to the state.

Played as above, using ace-to-five low hand values, with a single joker in the deck. Always played with blinds rather than antes, so players may not check on the first betting round (but may on the second round). A player with a 7-high hand or better who checks after the draw forfeits his right to win any money placed in the pot after the draw. (In other words, a 'seven' may not be checked unless the player intends to fold when another player bets). Another common rule in low-limit games is that a player who checks on the second betting round may not subsequently raise on that round. This latter rule is never used in games with a pot limit or no limit betting structure.

Kansas City lowball[edit]

Five-card draw, with no joker, and deuce-to-seven low hand values is called 'Kansas City' or 'Low Poker' or even 'Billy Baxter' draw in honor of the player who dominated the world championship in the event for many years. Often the game is played no-limit. The 7-high rule and the no check-and-raise rule do not apply. In the eastern United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, ace-to-six low hand values are common.

Double-draw and Triple-draw[edit]

Any game above can be played with two or three draw phases and therefore three or four betting rounds. Triple draw lowball, either ace-to-five or deuce-to-seven, has gained some popularity among serious players. The 2004 World Series of Poker included a deuce-to-seven triple-draw lowball event, and each WSOP from 2007 on has featured one event as well. The Poker Player's Championship, which was introduced in 2010 as the replacement for the $50,000 buy-in HORSE tournament that had been in every WSOP since 2006, includes 2–7 triple-draw lowball as one of its rotating games.

Badugi[edit]

Sometimes spelled as Padooki or Badougi, Badugi is a four-card ace-to-five low lowball variant where traditional poker hand rankings are changed. A Badugi is a four-card hand where all the cards are of different ranks and suits. Any card which match another card in rank or suit does not play and the first criterion for evaluating hands is the number of cards which are playing. The following is the ranking of several example of hands from best to worst:

1. Ace of spades, 2 of clubs, 3 of hearts, 4 of diamonds: 4-card 4-high best possible Badugi
2. 4 of spades, 6 of hearts, 8 of diamonds, J of clubs: 4-card J-high Badugi
3. Ten of clubs, J of hearts, Q of diamonds, K of spades: 4-card worst possible Badugi
4. Ace of hearts, Ace of diamonds, 4 of clubs, 5 of spades: 3-card hand, 5-high
5. Ace of clubs, Ace of spades, 4 of spades, 6 of spades: 2-card hand, 4-high
6. Four kings: 1-card hand, worst possible hand

Badugi is usually played triple-draw, with a 1-1-2-2 betting structure, although it is sometimes played in pot limit or 1/2 pot limit structures.

Baduci[edit]

Not to be confused with Badugi, Baduci is a lowball hybrid of Badugi and deuce-to-seven triple draw low. This game has a split pot, one half for the strongest Badugi hand and the other half for the best deuce-to-seven triple draw hand. Players are essentially trying to form two different sets of hands by using five cards with a goal of winning both halves of the pot in the same hand.

California high/low split[edit]

Played as above, with a single joker, used as a bug. High hand and low hand (using the ace-to-five low values) split the pot. An 8-high or better low is required to win low. If no hand qualifies for low, the high hand takes the whole pot. Played cards speak, that is, players do not declare whether they intend to win the high or low half of the pot (or both); they simply show their cards and the best hands win. Because ace-to-five low values are used, a hand such as a low straight or flush can win both high and low, called 'scooping' or 'hogging' the pot.

High/low with declare[edit]

This is common in home games but is rarely found in casinos today. Played as are other versions of five-card draw, but after the second betting round and before the showdown, there is a simultaneous declaration phase. Each player takes two chips from his stack and takes them under the table, bringing up a closed fist that contains either no chips (indicating that the player intends to win the low half of the pot), one chip (indicating that the player intends to win the high half), or two chips (indicating that he intends to scoop). When everyone has brought up the closed fist, the players all open their hands simultaneously to reveal their choices. If any player shows two chips, and his hand is the best low and the best high, he scoops the pot. Otherwise, half of the pot goes to the player with the highest hand who declared high, and the other half to the player with the lowest hand of those who declared low. There is no qualifying hand to win either high or low, and if no one declares in one direction, the full pot is awarded in the other (for example, if all players declare low, the low hand wins the whole pot rather than half). A player who declares for a scoop must win both ends outright, with no ties. For example, if a player declares scoop, has the lowest hand clearly but ties for high, he wins nothing. The other player with the same high hand wins the high half of the pot and the next-lowest hand wins low (assuming he declared low—if no other player declared low, the high hand who declared high wins the whole pot).

This game can be played with deuce-to-seven low or ace-to-six low hand values, but in that case it is nearly impossible to scoop (though the whole pot could still be won if everyone declares the same direction).

Four-before[edit]

Another variation that can be applied to any game above, but that is especially suited to lowball. On the initial deal, only four cards are dealt to each player. A betting round follows, then each player draws one more card than he discards, completing his hand to five cards. Then the final betting round and showdown. Note that it is impossible to be dealt a 'pat' hand, that is, a hand (such as a straight or flush) that is complete before the draw.

Johnson (and 'Jacks back')[edit]

Played with one joker which acts as a bug. Must be played with antes and no blinds. Each player is dealt five cards. The first betting round begins with the player to the dealer's left, who may check or open with anything. If any player opens, the game continues as traditional five-card draw poker. If the first round is passed out (that is, no one opens), then the player to the dealer's left may now open if he chooses, but the game has switched to California lowball. On the rare occasion that the deal is passed out yet again, players re-ante and deal again. This game plays well head-up (that is, with only two players). When the game is played that a pair of jacks or better is required to open on the first high-hand round, the game is called 'Jacks back'.^{[citation needed]}

Q-Ball[edit]

This is a lowball game designed by Michael Wiesenberg that combines some of the variations mentioned above. It is generally played with three blinds—one unit from the dealer, one unit to his left, and two units for the second player to the dealer's left. The deck contains one joker. Each player is dealt three cards, followed by a round of betting beginning with the player immediately after the big blind who may call the big blind, raise, or fold (there is no checking on the first round). Next, each player is dealt a fourth card, followed by a second round of betting starting with the still-active player to the dealer's left. No checking is allowed on this round either, despite the fact that there is no bet facing the first player; the first player must open or fold. Each player is then dealt a fifth card, followed by a third betting round beginning on the dealer's left. At this point, checking is allowed. Finally, each player draws as in normal draw poker, followed by a fourth betting round and showdown. Ace-to-five low values are used.

Played at fixed limit, it is recommended that the betting structure be 1-2-2-4; that is, the second and third betting rounds should allow a bet of twice the amount of the first round, and the final bet should allow four times the amount of the first round.

'Home' games[edit]

These are somewhat less-serious games that are typically played only in home games at small stakes. This does not necessarily mean that there is less opportunity for skillful play, just that the games are seen as more social than competitive.

To help grow the betting pot in a home game, one can add a variant known as the 'kill card' to the rules. Kill cards work best with stud games or shared card games as no one player can control when the 'kill card' is played.

Shotgun ('Roll 'em out' and 'Skinny Minnie')[edit]

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This is a draw game that plays much like a stud game. First five cards are dealt to each player, followed by a betting round, and a draw. Now, in place of a second round and showdown, there is a rollout phase, which begins with the players arranging their five cards in any chosen order, placing them face down in front of themselves. Each player's top card is now revealed, followed by a betting round. Then each player reveals his next card, followed by a betting round. Then a third card is revealed, followed by a betting round, a fourth card, a betting round, and finally a showdown. Players may not change the order of their cards at any time during the rollout phase.

This game can be played for high or low, but plays best at high-low split, in which case it is called 'Skinny Minnie'.

Spit in the ocean[edit]

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This might be classified as a hybrid draw/Community card game, but it is placed here because it plays mostly as a draw game. On the initial deal, each player is dealt four cards, and then a single card is dealt to the center of the table face up. This card plays as if it were the fifth card in every player's hand. It is also a wild card, and every other card of its rank is also wild. The first betting round is then played, followed by a draw in which each player replaces cards from his hand with an equal number, so that each player still has only four cards in hand. A final betting round is followed by a showdown. High-hand values are used. (An alternative is to deal similar to a regular draw poker hand, during which any player can shout 'Spit!', whereupon the next card is dealt face up, after which dealing resumes until all players have five cards. In some variants, only the 'spit' card can be used as a wild card.)

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Here's a sample deal: Alice deals four cards to each player, then deals the next card face up to the center of the table. it is the 6 of diamonds, and this makes all 6-spot cards wild. Bob opens for $1, Carol raises to $2, David folds, Alice and Bob call. Bob discards two cards, and receives two replacements. Carol draws one card, and Alice draws one. Bob checks, Carol bets $2, Alice raises to $4, Bob folds, Carol reraises to $6, and Alice calls. The cards in Carol's hand are Q-Q-6-4. Because the 6 in her hand and the one on the board are wild, her hand is four queens. Alice's hand contains K-J-9-7, all spades. With the shared wild card, this gives her a flush, which loses to Carol's four queens.

The game is mentioned in the Ray Stevens song 'Shriner's Convention'.

Anaconda ('Pass the trash')[edit]

Seven cards are dealt to each player. Before the first betting round, each player examines his hand, and removes exactly three cards from his hand and places them on the table to his left. After each person has thus discarded, he picks up the cards discarded by his right-hand neighbor and places them in his hand (thus, each player will have given three cards to his left-hand neighbor). It is important that each player discard before looking at the cards he is to receive. After the first pass, there is a betting round. Then a second pass occurs, each player passing two cards to his right. A second betting round is followed by a third pass, each player passing one card to his left. Finally, a third betting round and a showdown, in which the player with the best five-card high hand he can make out of the seven in his hand wins the pot.

In some casual games, the showdown is replaced by a rollout phase, as described above in 'Shotgun'. This makes a total of eight betting rounds in the game, which generally destroys any chance for skillful play in the later rounds.

Ad hoc variants[edit]

Any of the above games can be modified in many ways upon player whim, by designating additional wild cards, betting rounds, more or fewer cards, altered hand values, and any other change agreed upon by all players prior to each deal. Such a game can be announced by using the name of an existing game and specifying the variations, for example 'Three-card Triple-draw California lowball, Kings wild'. Many times this will result in a game that does not play well, but occasionally will produce a game that is well-suited to a particular group of players.

Here are some general guidelines:

• If designating some normal suited cards as wild, it is advisable to choose cards that would otherwise be bad for the game being played. For example, deuces wild for high-hand games, kings wild for lowball, 9-spots wild for high-low split (where an 8-high or lower is necessary to win low).
• High-low split games play best with more than four players.
• When playing high-low split, it is necessary to have either a declaration phase or a qualifier (but not both). The most common form is 8-high or better to qualify low, but also common is any pair/no pair (that is, a pair or better is required to win high, and no pair or better low is required to win low), and 9-high for low.
• Designating more than four wild cards (or possibly six) will result in considerable confusion and many ties.
• Two to five betting rounds makes a good game. One round or more than five rounds reduces the amount of skill involved.
• Sometimes there is no betting round before the draw; players pick up their cards, discard and draw, and then the betting starts.
• Giving each player more than eight or nine cards can often make a bad game. In Anaconda, each player will have seen up to thirteen cards.

See also[edit]

Free 5 Card Draw Online Poker

References[edit]

1. ^Cardoza, Avery (8 December 2011). Basics of Winning Poker. Cardoza Publishing. p. 19. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
2. ^Brown, Aaron (26 August 2011). The Poker Face of Wall Street. New York City: John Wiley & Sons. p. 39. ISBN9781118161104. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
3. ^Waldie, D. J. (2017-03-15). 'Draw, Stud, and Hold'em: A Brief History of Poker in L.A.'KCET. Retrieved 2020-05-06.

As humans, we naturally strive for some kind of order. The examples are many - schedules, tidy rooms, neatly folded clothes, and the like. Almost everything we do follows certain rules and regulations; there are laws in place and rules to adhere to.

Still, order comes with a flaw - it's predictable. Of course, it certainly helps us with our daily tasks, but the colors change when something surprising happens. In fact, we cannot deny that we like surprises and coincidences. Therefore, we can say that while we are faithful to order and structure, we also enjoy flirting with randomness.

Here's an example we can all relate to - the 'shuffle' option on most music apps. Despite our tendency to create custom playlists, we still like when our app 'surprises' us with a song. That is especially true if we haven't heard that song in a while, not to mention that so many board and card games also depend on randomness.

In this article, we are going to talk about different ways we use randomness, as well as the tools we that help us achieve it.

There's one random number generator we are all familiar with - the lottery drum. As we know, this device pulls out a number of lottery balls at random and creates the winning combination. It ensures equal odds of winning for everyone playing. That is one of many ways we let randomness control a game.

The roulette wheel is also a common random number generator. We can never say for certain which number the ball will land on. In fact, the unpredictable nature of roulette is what makes it so thrilling in the first place. Even online slot games are essentially random number generators. Even though we see symbols, there is always a number behind each one.

Surely, dice are the most common random number generator. They are essential to many games, from Ludo and Monopoly to craps and Yahtzee. In the former two examples, rolling a die determines the movement of the player. In the latter two, dice are more central to the game instead of just being a tool.

The die we all know and love is a cube that generates a random number between 1 and 6. Of course, there are also dice that are not cubes and have between four and eight faces. For instance, role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons often make use of those.

Unfortunately, the history of the die is a bit of a blur. Some say that the oldest dice could have been made some 5000 years ago. What we do know is that backgammon was one of the first games to use dice.

It's a common belief that dice produce truly random numbers. However, scientists have discovered that it is not entirely true. For example, if we throw a die with the number one on top, there is more chance of it producing that same number. Still, we don't need to worry about that, since the outcome largely depends on the environment.

Dice have come a long way since their invention. Now, instead of using physical dice, we can simply roll a virtual die at freeonlinedice.com. By simply clicking on the die, we can roll it and produce a number between 1 and 6 completely at random. With the help of this simple but convenient website, we can roll a die virtually anywhere.

Christopher Nolan's movie The Dark Knight introduced the villain Two-Face, who lets a coin flip decide his actions. Indeed, tossing a coin has always been a simple way to make a quick decision, since the odds are 50:50.

Throughout history, flipping a coin has resolved disputes, declared winners and even played a role in politics. In ancient times, people understood the outcome of a coin flip as a sign of divine will.

Interestingly enough, a coin flip had also decided which of the two Wright brothers would be the first to fly a plane. Even though Wilbur had won the coin toss, his attempt at flying was a failure. Yet, his brother Orville was successful.

In football, a coin flip decides which team kicks off the ball. When a team wins the coin toss, they can decide if they want to kick the ball or receive it. Moreover, the winning team can also choose which side of the field they want to defend.

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The coin flip transcends to esports, as well. For example, Hearthstone uses it to decide which player goes first. Whoever loses the toss, gets a 'coin card', which also has its benefits.

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Earlier, we mentioned that the odds of a coin flip are 50:50. However, research shows that there is actually a bit of a bias that makes the toss less fair. More accurately, there is a 0.51 probability of catching the coin the same way we throw it.

Although both sides are made from raised metal, they show different images. Therefore, we can assume that one side is slightly heavier than the other.

Despite that, the coin flip is still a popular way to decide between two options. Nowadays, we don't even have to worry about the physics of it. Instead, we can go to freeonlinedice.com and do a virtual coin flip with a single click. It's a great way to quickly make up our mind anytime, anywhere. Honestly, flipping a real coin does leave some room for cheating. However, a virtual coin will always produce a random result.

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It's interesting how often we let such small objects determine the course of our actions. Yet, it's fun, and sometimes necessary to give in to randomness. After all, not having the control of the outcome paves the way for interesting situations.

Rolling dice and tossing a coin have always been the simplest, yet most popular tools of randomness. Now that we can use them online, we are confident that they will stay relevant for years to come. The question remains - how lucky are we?