How to Play Poker Dice

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Poker Dice is a fast-moving dice game for two to six players that strips poker hand rankings down to their essentials and plays them out with five dice instead of cards. Rounds are short, decisions are genuine, and the game rewards both nerve and basic probability thinking without requiring a card in sight.

It works equally well on a kitchen table, at a pub, or on a camping trip. Because the equipment is just five dice and the rules fit in a minute, it is one of those games that tends to get pulled out repeatedly once a household knows it.

A little history

The exact origins of Poker Dice are unclear, though dice games mimicking card-hand rankings have been documented in Europe and North America since at least the mid-nineteenth century. Specially printed poker dice, with faces showing Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, and Nine instead of pips, were widely available by the late 1800s and appear in various games catalogues of that era. The game has been a staple of pub and parlour play throughout the twentieth century, and standard pip dice are commonly used as a straightforward alternative.

Setting up

1. Agree the number of rounds to play, or a target score if using the optional scoring variant. Five or seven rounds is a common choice for a quick game.
2. Determine which faces count as which. On pip dice: 6 = Ace, 5 = King, 4 = Queen, 3 = Jack, 2 = Ten, 1 = Nine. On poker dice the faces are printed. Make sure all players agree before the first roll.
3. Decide who goes first. The most common method is each player rolling one die, with the highest roll taking the opening turn. Re-roll any ties.
4. Agree whether wild rules or any house variations apply (see Variations below) before play begins.

How to play

1. On your turn, take all five dice and roll them together. This is your first roll.
2. After the first roll, examine your dice. You may set aside any dice you want to keep and re-roll the remainder. You do not have to keep any dice: you may re-roll all five if you wish.
3. After the second roll, you may again set aside keepers and re-roll any remaining dice, or you may stand on your current result if you are satisfied. This is your third and final roll.
4. Once you have had three rolls in total (or have chosen to stand earlier), your turn ends. Your final set of five dice constitutes your hand.
5. Hand ranks from highest to lowest are: Five of a Kind, Four of a Kind, Full House (three of one value plus a pair), Straight (all five different values in sequence: 9-10-J-Q-K or 10-J-Q-K-A), Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, High Die (no scoring combination).
6. On pip dice, a straight runs either 1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6. On poker dice it runs 9-10-J-Q-K or 10-J-Q-K-A. Both straights rank equally; confirm your house rule if needed.
7. After every player has taken their turn, compare hands. The player holding the highest-ranking hand wins the round. If two or more players tie in rank, the player whose hand contains the highest-value dice in the winning combination wins. If still tied, those players only re-roll all five dice once each, and the best result from that single roll determines the round winner.
8. Record the round winner. Begin the next round with the player to the left of the previous winner taking the first turn.
9. Play continues for the agreed number of rounds. The player who wins the most rounds wins the game. If scores are level at the end, play a single sudden-death round to decide.

Winning and scoring

The player who wins the most rounds out of the agreed total wins the game. In the most common short format of five rounds, three round wins is an outright victory. When using the optional points scoring variant, assign values to hands (for example: Five of a Kind 6 points, Four of a Kind 5, Full House 4, Straight 3, Three of a Kind 2, Two Pair 1, One Pair and High Die score nothing), and the player with the most points after all rounds wins. A target score of 15 points works well for a longer session.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns tied hands. When two players both hold, say, Three of a Kind, compare the value of the three matching dice first. If those are also equal, compare the highest remaining die, then the next. If every die is identical in value, those players re-roll all five dice once each as a tie-break. A single re-roll only: the highest hand from that roll wins, even if still tied by rank (in which case compare individual dice values before considering a second re-roll).

A frequently missed rule is that a player is never forced to keep any dice. You may pick up and re-roll all five on your second and third rolls, regardless of what you have showing. Equally, a player may choose to stand after the first or second roll and take no further rolls: this is entirely within the rules and can be a sound tactical decision. Dice that have been formally set aside may be picked back up before the re-roll begins, provided the re-roll has not yet happened. Once the dice are thrown, all results stand.

How to win more often

• Know when to stand. If you roll Three of a Kind or better on your first roll, standing immediately is often smarter than risking a worse result chasing a Full House or better.
• Prioritise keeping pairs over keeping high individual dice. A pair gives you a foundation; a lone Ace gives you almost nothing unless you roll four more Aces to match it.
• When chasing a straight, you need all five dice to cooperate. Unless you have three or four of the straight already after the first roll, abandon the attempt and build the best set-based hand you can.
• Track what your opponents are keeping between rolls. If a player sets aside four dice after the first roll, they likely have Four of a Kind or are one card short of it. Adjust your own ambition accordingly.
• In a close final round, consider what rank you need to beat the current leader rather than simply aiming for your personal best hand. Sometimes locking in a guaranteed Two Pair rather than gambling on Three of a Kind is the percentage play.

Variations

Liar Dice (Bluffing Variant)

Each player rolls all five dice under a cup, keeping their result hidden from opponents. Players then bid on what combinations they believe exist across all players' dice combined, raising each other until someone calls the bluff. The caller and roller reveal; the loser of the challenge takes a penalty. This variant plays best with four to six players and adds a strong bluffing element to the core hand rankings.

Three-Roll Poker with Scoring Track

Rather than deciding a round winner by comparison, each player earns points for every hand they achieve across all rounds, using a fixed points table (see Winning section). This format sustains interest even when one player is consistently unlucky, since weaker hands still earn something, and it plays well over ten or more rounds as a longer session game.

Single-Roll Showdown

Each player rolls all five dice once only, with no re-rolls permitted. Hands are compared immediately. This is a pure luck format with no decision-making, but it makes for an extremely fast game that works well as a tiebreaker or as a way to include very young players without overwhelming them with choices.

Elimination Poker Dice

The player who loses each round is eliminated from the game. The last player remaining wins. This format works well with five or six players and keeps rounds short, since the field narrows quickly. To avoid long waits for eliminated players, agree a consolation round where knocked-out players compete separately for a secondary prize or bragging rights.

Poker Dice: frequently asked questions