5 Card Draw (The "old" Poker) Strategy Guide

Playing the game
Obviously, in 5 card draw you are given 5 cards face down. There is a BB and a SB and usually an ante. Action begins the same as normal with a round of betting. All players still in the hand after the betting round will then take turns drawing as many cards as you wanted/needed--this is where being in good position is key as I will explain later. Then, after everyone still in the hand has drawn, there is another round of betting and the best 5 card hand takes down the pot.
Easy enough, isn't it??

Starting hand strategy
There are basically 3 different types of starting hands--Pat hands, drawing hands, and marginal holdings

Pat Hands
These are the best starting hands possible--like full houses, straights, quads, and flushes. You will not draw any cards after the round of betting and you need to play these cards very aggressively preflop to get the most value since after the draw you will not get any action unless someone has a huge hand like yourself. Play these hands aggressively all the way through since they do not come around to you that often.

Drawing Hands
Now some people would call trips a pat hand, but I wouldnt because you will be drawing 1 or 2 cards usually after the draw, so drawing hands are trips, 2 pair, high pairs, open end straight draws, flush draws, and straight flush draws.

You would only want to play high, single pairs in good position and only having to invest a few chips (the chances of you drawing trips or a winning 2 pair is not that great)

The best drawing hands are straight flush draws as you could make a flush or a straight that will most likely win you the hand--this does not mean you should go crazy betting these though--they are vulnerable


Marginal Holdings
These are hands that are not that great to be playing unless you are in the BB or the SB and it there has been no raiser in front. Hands like small pairs, ace king x x x or hands with 3 to a flush or a straight should not be played.

Some people like to play small pairs for cheap, but if I'm not in the blinds or on the button, i will fold any pair 10 10 x x x and under (but I am a pretty tight player)


Beginners Strategies
Position -- Position is very important in 5 card draw and when I am on the button and action has been folded around to me, I will usually complete the bet if I have at least a pair. Even if you get called, you act last when you are on the button, so you will get to see how many cards your opponent draws. That is very very important. Here is an example of a hand I could play if I'm on the button and it is folded around to me

little hozer (button)--8s 8c Ace h King c 10 c hozer raises the BB

BB calls---

BB draws 1st and draws 3 cards

At this point you could either draw 2 cards by getting rid of the 10 and king, you could get rid of 1 with the 10 to represent 2 pair or a straight draw, or you could just stand pat to make your opponent think you have a made hand.

Here is what I would do--

little hozer--stands Pat

betting round--BB would usually check and I would bet and most likely take down the pot.

BEING IN GOOD POSITION IS A HUGE PART OF WINNING AT THIS GAME AND SO IS WATCHING YOUR OPPONENTS ACTION AS FAR AS BETTING AND DRAWING PATTERNS

Hand odds
This chart is a hands odd chart that I found on another website--it is illustrating the probability of getting certain hands--you can see that pairs are not very good in this game unless they are big pairs

5 Card Draw Hand Odds Chart
One Pair 50%
Two Pair 7.7%
Three of a kind 2.8%
Straight .3%
Flush .23%
Full House .16%
Four of a kind .0015%
Straight Flush .025%
Royal Flush .00007%

Conclusion

One of the biggest advantages that you can exploit in the game is playing your position well. Also, watch every hand and see what hands people are betting or calling with and you will pick up their tendencies very quickly which can be key later in a match. Another big factor is watching how many cards everyone takes and exploiting that--if 2 people are in and 1 draws 3 cards then the best strategy against a tight player is to stand pat and bet after he checks--it will take down the pot almost every time against a tight player.

Also, by watching your starting cards and only playing premium cards can help a lot in this game, but so does catching great cards

I might add more to this article later and feel free to respond to this with your strategies or things that you think I stated that were wrong, but for right now, I just wanted to write an article on the beginning strategies of this game.

If you play this game straightforward and smartly by watching tendencies of opponents and by playing good starting cards in good position, you will have a good chance to be successful in a beginners game of 5 card draw