Where to learn and play 5-card draw?
 

Hi there everyone.
I'm visiting "Other Poker" from "Micro-Limit" texas hold'em.
While I'm trying to improve my hold em game I'd like to take a look at 5 card draw.
However I don't know any site that features this game and no book that focuses on it (apart from the Mike Caro section in Super Systems).
Do you have any advice?

Re: Where to learn and play 5-card draw?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hi there everyone.
I'm visiting "Other Poker" from "Micro-Limit" texas hold'em.
While I'm trying to improve my hold em game I'd like to take a look at 5 card draw.
However I don't know any site that features this game and no book that focuses on it (apart from the Mike Caro section in Super Systems).
Do you have any advice?

[/ QUOTE ]

An article by Michael Wiesenburg on the basics of draw poker:

http://cardplayer.com/poker_magazine...es/?a_id=13413

Re: Where to learn and play 5-card draw?
 

Read Mason's "Winning Concepts in Draw and Lowball." It is the best book I have read on draw.

Re: Where to learn and play 5-card draw?
 

Mason's book is good but it does not cover the game as it is played today. However, it will get you thinking on the right lines.

There is no microlimit Draw available. You can find Five Card Draw with two blinds played sixhanded at www.paradisepoker.com.

Re: Where to learn and play 5-card draw?
 

there are some good 5-handed 1/2, 2/4 and 3/6 draw games on paradise, that's where i would go first

the 5/10 games are typically tougher and i have not been able to make money at them

there is no book that describes how to play draw the way it is spread in on-line card rooms like paradise and planet (with blinds instead of antes, anything can open, no joker)

mike

Re: Where to learn and play 5-card draw?
 

The other posters are correct-the classic resources for draw are Caro's chapter in Super/System and Malmuth's Winning Concepts in Draw and Lowball. Both of these books focus on the way draw was played in California in the pre-holdem days (antes instead of blinds, 53-card deck with a joker as a bug, jacks or better to open). Michael Weisenburg's columns in CardPlayer magazine focus on online draw as it is being played today.

I know of 3 online rooms that spread draw; all 3 use blinds rather than antes and one can open with anything.

Paradise: 5-seated tables, fixed limit $1/$2 through $5/$10 stakes, always several tables of $1/$2 going, hit-or-miss for tables at higher stakes, quite a few weak players at the $1/$2 tables but quite a few good regulars that seem to always be around, no tourneys

Planet: Planet just switched to their new software, with some changes. First, the joker as a bug is back (the only place online that uses the joker). I loved Planet's draw tourneys, particularly the pot-limit ones and hope they bring them back soon.
Planet was the main place for draw MTTs (buy-in from $1 to $15), but tourneys are "under construction" and not running yet at the new room. Planet spreads draw in both fixed limit and pot limit formats from $0.05/$0.10 through $8/$16. You will virtually never see anything going above the $0.50/$1 level and there isn't always a game going. If a game or two are going, it's usually 0.05/0.10, 0.25/0.50, or the 0.25/0.25 pot limit. Players are generally either weak-tight or total calling stations. Planet used to have A-5 single-draw lowball, but this seems to have gone away with the software upgrade-there was virtually never any action anyways.

24hpoker-A site not a lot of people know about. This is a small site that is geared towards a European audience. The currency here is Euros rather than dollars; most players are from the Scandanavian countries. The player base here is growing due to a new relationship with a European sportsbook which has attracted sports-betting fish. Draw is strictly a pot-limit game here, with blinds from 0.25/0.50 Euros to 5/10 Euros. I've played 0.25/0.50 and 0.50/1 recently-lots of weak players but some very good players also. The players here are much more aggressive than at Planet and many of them try to bluff way too much. 24hpoker has draw tourneys but I haven't played one in several months. Unless 24h has made changes, the blind structures are awful and make most tournaments into crapshoots.

Re: Where to learn and play 5-card draw?
 

A classic book on draw is Norman Zadeh's Winning Poker Systems. It covers many formats of draw and other games, including the modern "blinds" version (which he calls "ante and straddle").

I see this book all the time in used-book stores for a dollar or two. I even think there was a recent re-issue in paperback. It is the ideal book to read for someone wishing to expand their horizons by studying other games. JMHO, Mack.

Re: Where to learn and play 5-card draw?
 

this is a great book

Re: Where to learn and play 5-card draw?
 

I do so not regret becoming a member of this forum. I posted this question a couple of days back and look!
Good advice, for free!
Thanks guys and twoplustwo!

Re: Where to learn and play 5-card draw?
 

[ QUOTE ]

Planet: Planet just switched to their new software, with some changes. First, the joker as a bug is back (the only place online that uses the joker). I loved Planet's draw tourneys, particularly the pot-limit ones and hope they bring them back soon.
Planet was the main place for draw MTTs (buy-in from $1 to $15), but tourneys are "under construction" and not running yet at the new room. Planet spreads draw in both fixed limit and pot limit formats from $0.05/$0.10 through $8/$16. You will virtually never see anything going above the $0.50/$1 level and there isn't always a game going. If a game or two are going, it's usually 0.05/0.10, 0.25/0.50, or the 0.25/0.25 pot limit. Players are generally either weak-tight or total calling stations. Planet used to have A-5 single-draw lowball, but this seems to have gone away with the software upgrade-there was virtually never any action anyways.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've seen the 2-4 games get going on several nights. If more people who wanted to play draw would be willing to play short handed, or start games, then it would get on more regularly.

I think Planet will bring back, A-5 Lowball.