Long before all the modern poker variants came into play, there was five-card draw poker. This game gave rise to all the Omaha and hold 'em games played today, but it has fallen out of favor recently. In draw poker, there are no up cards and only two betting rounds- one before a draw and one after it. Every player gets five face-down cards and has the choice to replace three or fewer of them to make their hand better. There are a lot of variants on five-card draw poker; jokers included, high/low, no openers and jacks or better.

Beginning with the player to the dealer's left, they need to have at least a pair of jacks to open the pot. Players can split openers but they have to announce their intentions and put the discards face-up on the side to prove that they did have openers. If no one has the minimum, the cards are dealt again until someone can open. Normally, every player can draw three new cards or keep the ones that they have.

Like with all other poker variants, position is key. Once the pot is opened, the player has to describe his hand by the draw he makes. If they draw three cards, everyone else knows that they have a pair; if they draw two cards, everyone is led to believe that they have three of a kind.

With aces or kings you can open the pot from any position, and you have the best possible starting hand. If the opening bet is raised, calling can be done. In the late position, opening with jacks is appropriate. If you open in late position and are raised before the draw, you could be in trouble.

The biggest reason why it's not recommended to open the pot with jacks in the early or middle position is the chance that the hand behind yours is better. If you do pass with jacks in early position, there's a little more than a 1/3 chance that no one will open, meaning that you could have won the pot uncontested.