This is the standard draw game. The best five-card hand after one draw wins. The measure of success of one hand is the degree of fit in with the best possible five-card hand determined by the standard poker hand rankings. This is opposed to community card games where success may only be determined by the amount of community cards. This game may be found being played around the world. It is the most popular poker variant there is.

It is also sometimes called the 5-card draw. The variant of poker rules in this game will determine the rank of hand so as to what the best five-card hand rank is. This is an important and common poker variant that you will encounter in either Community Card or Pick-Up games. In community card games, it is also common to use a single deck for the game and to change it as well for the next hand.

The poker hand rankings are as follows:

  1. Best Basic Poker Hand: A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, A-Ks.
  2. Second Best Basic Poker Hand: A-A-Ks-Qs, A-Ks-JQs, K-Qs-JTs.
  3. Third Best Basic Poker Hand: A-A-9s-9d, A-A-Q9s-Qd, K-Qs-9s.
  4. Fourth Best Basic Poker Hand: A-Ks-Qs-JTs, K-Qs-J9s-Ts.
  5. Fifth Best Basic Poker Hand: A-9s-9d-Ts, A-9s-Q9d-Ts, K-Qs-9d.
  6. Sixth Best Basic Poker Hand: A-ks-Qs-JTs, K-Qs-J9s-Ts.
  7. seventh Best Basic Poker Hand: A-7s-5s-9s, A-7s-9h-Raise, 7-5s-9c-Raise.

This is what you call your Stand-By Play. In the case where the community cards are 7-5-9c-1c, you should place a bet in the raise area because you should (1) call or (2) re-raise the bet; wherein, you will be acting as the banker. If you decide to call, you should only do so if you have an excellent hand, such as A-A or K-K. If you have A-A or K-K, you should raise. By doing this, you will make the others fold with an Aces or Kings that have already been exposed to the flop or with a small pocket pair.

In the case where the flop was exposed with three of a kind, you should check and fold.

In case where the flop was exposed with two pairs, you should bet and look for a free card; wherein, you will be acting as the banker. If you have the better hand than the others, you should make a raise. By doing this, you will make the others fold with pocket 2s or 2h, instead of potentially causing a big raise from them if you make a set.

You should not call in cases where you have a flush or straight draw, unless you have the first two cards in the middle (cept the suited connectors). You should also not call in case you have a pair in the middle. If you have Q-Q, you should bet, regardless of whether you have the Ace or not, because you do not want to invite a straight draw or a royal flush.

For the middle cards, you should bet in a way that would make the players fold, even if you have an unbeatable hand. If you would check rather than bet, you would invite players to call you with free cards. Instead of betting, you can also slowplay, making the others believe that you are considering to semi-bluff.

However, you can also win the pot by betting aggressively, in such a way that would make the players fold.

Playing aggressively will cause the players to fold with free cards, when you determine that you have them beat.

If you think that the penultimate card dealt in the middle would give your opponents a strong hand, you should bet without holding the nuts. In this situation, you are risking to make a small bet in order to make your opponents fold.

Once you got a good hand, you should always take the risk to bet, because it is an important part of your poker strategy.