Learning the basics of 5-card poker is a dream for many poker aspirants. 5-card poker is the stepping stone that leads your way to elite poker games. If you have mastered the skills of playing a 5 card poker game, then you easily get an upper hand over the other games. Many who start their journey into the poker realm, begin out learning 5-card poker and a few other similar games. Once you understand the rules of the game, it is pretty easy to play and win.
What is 5-card poker?
As its name suggests, you play the game with 5 cards over a standard deck. While playing this game you try to win the dealer by having an upper hand with just being dealt 5 cards. The game also lets you exchange one or two of our cards while you try to get the upper hand. However, there are other certain rules that you have to follow while playing this game. Let us look deeper into all that:
Rules of 5 card poker
- The game has to be started with either of 1 following bets: antes or blinds.
- At the start of the game, all the hands in the game have to bet on either one of these two.
- When the bet that you place gets placed, the next phase of the game, the real one, starts
- You and your fellow players 5 cards
- These 5 cards will be face down
- Professionals refer to it as ‘hole cards’
- No one else will be able to see the values of your hole cards
The essential moves in 5-card poker
While you play 5-card poker, you have to perform the following moves. Let us look at what they are and how they are done the right way
- Call
When you perform a ‘call’, you act to match your cards with the biggest bet present at the time of you making the move
- Fold
Fold means that you give up your hand. If you reach a stage at your game, where there is clearly no hope for the future, you can proceed to give up your hand.
- Raise
If everything is going well and you feel the confidence to go playing, you can ‘raise’. It means you get to increase the bet that you have placed. This needs to be done after much thought.
There are different variations for 5 card poker, too. In some variations, the player will have to start with an ante bet without an option to start with a blind bet. After all players place ante bet, the dealer starts the work.
How to play 5-card poker?
Let us see how you should start playing since you get your 5 facedown cards. Start by thoroughly assessing your cards and making a game strategy in your mind, it is essential that you do not let others know the state of your cards. Maybe you get the worst combination of 5 cards, ever. Be smart enough to keep the details to yourself.
After you get all your cards, you will get a chance to make a move. You can do any three of the moves mentioned above. Maybe your cards will let you raise or call. Note that, others may also match the current bet. Or, no one may call after you raise the bet. If you raise your bet without anyone else calling, it means that you win the game immediately.
If the game doesn’t end there and enter the next stage, then there are more moves that you have to be aware of. They are as follows:
- Draw
You can discard all the cards that you have got. Or, you can only discard the ones that you want to. Along with that, you will also be able to exchange your set of cards for other ones, a whole new combo
- Stand Pat
When you make this move, you get to keep all 5 of your cards. There will be no draw, no card discarding, and no exchange.
Note that these two moves come in handy only when a minimum of two players are actively on their hands.
The Bottom Line
While playing 5 card poker, it is essential to know when to discard the cards and what to discard. You should be aware of the game that you are in. When you get your 5 facedown cards, make your game plan and adhere to it. If you are not about winning the game or even your hand, then you should never proceed to raise. Also, make sure you know that there is no shame in calling a fold.
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