Poker Hands in Five Card Draw, Ranked

Five card draw uses the standard poker hand rankings, from royal flush at the top down to high card at the bottom, and they are exactly the same as Texas Hold’em. The only thing that changes in draw is how you build your hand: you’re dealt five cards, then discard the ones you don’t want and draw replacements. The ranking chart never moves. Learn the ten hands below and you know draw, Hold’em, and Omaha alike.

The odds behind each hand

Poker ranks the rarer hand higher. Out of the 2,598,960 possible five-card hands in a 52-card deck, here’s how many make each category:

Hand	Ways to make it	Roughly 1 in
Royal flush	4	649,740
Straight flush	36	72,193
Four of a kind	624	4,165
Full house	3,744	694
Flush	5,108	509
Straight	10,200	255
Three of a kind	54,912	47
Two pair	123,552	21
One pair	1,098,240	2.4
High card	1,302,540	2.0

The counts fall as the hands get stronger, which is exactly why they rank as they do. Note the straight and flush lines: there are 10,200 straights but only 5,108 flushes, so a flush is rarer and beats a straight. That’s the same rule everywhere in five-card poker. For the full breakdown, see the poker hand probability chart.

How the draw changes your hand, not the rankings

Here’s the sequence in a standard game:

1. Ante and deal. Everyone posts an ante and is dealt five cards face down.
2. First betting round. Players bet, call, raise, or fold on their starting five.
3. The draw. Each remaining player discards up to five cards and draws the same number of replacements.
4. Second betting round, then showdown. The best five-card hand by the standard rankings wins.

The draw is your one chance to improve, so the rankings become a target. If you’re dealt 10♦ 10♠ Q♣ 7♦ 3♥ (one pair), you’d typically keep the tens plus maybe the queen and draw for trips, two pair, or better.

Ties are broken the same way too

When two players land in the same category, compare card ranks from the top down, using the kicker when needed:

• Straight / straight flush: higher top card wins. Q-J-10-9-8 beats 10-9-8-7-6.
• Four of a kind / three of a kind: higher set of matching cards wins, then the kicker.
• Full house: the higher three-of-a-kind decides first; kings full beats sevens full.
• Flush: compare the highest card, then the next, and so on down all five.
• Two pair / one pair: higher pair first, then the second pair, then the kicker.

Suits never break ties in standard draw poker; only ranks matter.

A worked hand

You draw and end with 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 5♥ — a nine-high straight flush. Your opponent shows A♦ A♠ A♣ K♦ K♠ — aces full of kings.

Aces full is a monster, but a straight flush sits two rungs higher on the ladder, so you win. Even the top full house loses to any straight flush, because a straight flush (36 ways) is far rarer than a full house (3,744 ways).

Bottom line

Five card draw runs on the exact standard rankings: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card. Nothing about the order changes from Hold’em, only the way you receive and replace cards. Memorize the ladder, study the hand rankings hub, and explore more formats at other poker variants.