Poker Dice Rules

The game is played by two or more players, usually no more than five, with five six-sided poker dice.

Each die has six faces: ace, king, queen, jack, ten and nine. The ace is the highest face and the nine the lowest.

The faces are often printed to look like playing cards, commonly with the ace of spades. Kings, queens and jacks are usually distinguished by colour rather than suit. The suits have no meaning in play.

The object is to roll the best poker hand. Players usually put an agreed stake into a pot before play, and the best hand takes it.

Players take turns. On a turn, the player rolls all five dice.

The player may then set aside any number of dice to keep and roll the rest again. The player may do this a second time, for a total of up to three rolls. The player may stop after the first or second roll.

Whether dice set aside after one roll may be picked up and rolled again later varies. Players shall agree the rule before play.

The hand is the five dice showing after the player's last roll.

Only two straights are possible: the high straight, A-K-Q-J-10, and the low straight, K-Q-J-10-9. The high straight beats the low one.

Hands of the same rank are compared as in poker: higher sets first, then the remaining dice. See hand rankings.

Straights are rarer than full houses in poker dice, but the usual practice is still to rank them below the full house, as in card poker. In older versions, straights did not count at all and were treated as busts. Players shall agree which rule applies before play.

When every player has had a turn, the best hand wins.

The handling of exactly tied hands is not fixed. The usual practice is for the tied players to roll off or to split the stake; players shall agree which before play.