Ripe Home Games

Five Card Draw variations thrive in home games and so can you in them.

Let's say you are in a loose home game where all players know each other, are of roughly equivalent skill, and all players brought a fairly even amount of money to the game, so you can maintain the part of poker where no one wants to get knocked out and have their night ended.

This kind of home game is a good time to play Five Card Draw variations because players are willing to gamble but can still be susceptible to bluffs, i.e. still fear losing.

back to top of page

The Luck of the Draw

Most Five Card Draw variations are based upon enhancing and heightening the part of poker referred to as "the luck of the draw."

For example, if you're playing Dueces Wild, this game is adding four more cards to the deck that can improve your hand dramatically if you draw one.

For another example, if you're playing Double Draw, you are now adding another opportunity for players to draw cards, in essence another chance for people to get lucky.

This focus on either increasing the amount of cards that can improve your hand or increasing the number of times you can draw from the pile means that bluffing can be a big part of winning at Five Card Draw variations, especially in the type of home game described above.

Always, after you draw, you need to be aware of your facial movements, the way you handle your chips, and other "tells" that your opponents will be looking for.

In order to win at these games, you have to be able to communicate false information about what you just drew--and you also have to be able to tell when your opponent just drew a nuts hand that you should be folding to.

back to top of page

Three Great Five Card Draw Variations

Some 5 Card Draw variations are garbage, complete bastardizations of the game of poker. Some, though, can spice up your poker life nicely. Here are three that we particularly like:

Jacks or Better

Sometimes called Jackpots, Jacks or Better is a game that starts strong: you are only allowed to bet if you have a pair of Jacks or better. If no one does have that, then players draw until someone does have a pair of Jacks or better.

Jacks or Better ensures that whoever wins the hand should have a pretty big hand (monster full houses are not uncommon). The forced inclusion of face cards up front usually induces a good amount of action in this game as players get excited to see high pairs stacking up in their hands.

Duece-to-Seven-Triple Draw

This game is fun--and potentially profitable--because there are a few different things going on here, and many players have trouble juggling a few things, so you can profit from that.

The first item is that this is a lowball poker game, so the lower the hand the better. Secondly, though, Aces are only a high, you can't use an Ace as a 1. Thirdly, you get to draw three times, and there is betting on every round. Fourthly, straights and flushes DO count as high hands, so the best hand in this game is 2-3-4-5-7 NOT suited.

In this game, your opponents' confusion about the rules can be your advantage.

California Lowball

A straightforward and classic variation on Five Card Draw where the lowest hand wins the pot, this is also called simply "lowball."

California Lowball gives new poker players the chance to experience one of the more thrilling hands in all of poker and that is the "wheel" or "bicycle." The "Bicycle Club" in Bell Gardens, California was named after this hand so you know somebody must have won with it.

That's another good thing about this game is that unlike some of the wilder versions of 5 Card Draw, you can find this game in casinos and it does have a good following.

The wheel/bike is when you have A-2-3-4-5 and this is the best hand in California Lowball. There is just something great about having cards that low and having the pure nuts, maybe it's called the wheel because when you get one you feel like you just invented the wheel.

Or maybe they call it that because when you hit a couple of these in one session, you may need a cart with wheels on it to carry off your winnings.

back to top of page