Draw Poker is the basic form of Poker and the place to start when introducing new players to the game. It's fairly uncommon these days in the casinos, but it is the form from which all other Poker games are derived.

The essence of Draw Poker is that the player builds a hand from 5 cards. After the initial round of betting the player may discard some or all of their cards and receive replacements. The players cards should never be revealed until the final Showdown, and are only then if absolutely necessary (more on that later). During the game, all cards are dealt and discarded face down.

There are two main things to learn when it comes to Draw Poker. The first is Poker's 5-card hands and their ranking. The second is the course of play including when and how to bet.

• Dealer button
Each player receives one card face up at the very beginning of play; the player with the highest card value is the selected dealer and is marked by a dealer button. This button is placed in front of the selected player who is the dealer, and determines where the dealing should begin and which players in turn will "post the blinds". The dealer button always moves clockwise and rotates around the table moving one place to the left after each hand.

• Blinds
Blinds are a compulsory bet placed in the pot to start the betting and to give players an incentive to enter the hand. It also means that the winner of the hand will always collect a pot rather than nothing at all. Before the first cards are dealt, the player immediately to the left of the dealer button must post the "small blind". The player to the left of the small blind must post the "big blind". The small blind is usually equal to half the minimum bet. The big blind is equal the minimum bet. E.g. $1 small blind, $2 big blind for a $2/$4 limit game.

The dealer always deals from the player closest to the dealer’s left. Moving clockwise around the table, the game will “deal-in” each player. The players will be dealt five cards face down. A round of betting will occur starting with the player seated to the left of the big blind.

The player seated to the left of the big blind will always have the action on the opening deal. This player may not check, but rather can only fold, call, or raise.

The game will now advance to each player seated asking to fold, call, or raise until we reach the big blind for an action decision. If no one has raised by the time the play comes back around to the big blind, the big blind has the option to “check” his own BLIND wager or raise.

Once all players have completed the first round of wagering, they will proceed to discarding cards and drawing new cards.

After the first betting round each player is asked to discard and draw from zero to five cards.
A player may chose not to discard any cards.
When all players have discarded and drawn cards, the second betting round starts.

The second betting round starts with the first player seated to the left of the dealer button. The options available to this player is to fold, check or bet. Should the player fold or check, the next player in turn will have the same options as the first player. If the first player bets, the next player to act will have the option of folding, calling or raising. Before a player acts, the number of discarded cards for that player is displayed to everyone. The rules state that this information should be available until there has been action after the draw.

In fixed limit games there is a maximum of four bets allowed in each betting round. A bet, a raise, a re-raise and a cap. A cap is the third raise in a betting round, after which no more betting is allowed. Pot limit and No limit games allow for an unlimited number of bets and raises.

After the second betting round is finished, the showdown follows.

The determination of which players’ cards will and must be shown first will lie with the player who had initiated the action or with the person who had initiated the last bet, raise or re-raise. This simply means that whoever had the last action must show his/her cards first.

The player with the best five card hand is the winner of the round and wins the pot. If there are multiple winners with the same hand, the pot is split between these players.