1: Use five poker dice. Its six faces are 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace.Five ordinary dice work too, with a chart that turns numbers into faces.
2: Two or more can play, usually no more than five. Each player has one turn a round.One set of dice goes around the table.
3: On your turn, throw all five dice.That is the first of up to three throws.
4: Set aside the dice you want to keep, and throw the rest again.Keep none, some or all.
5: You may throw up to three times in all.Happy after one or two throws? Stop there.
6: The five dice in front of you after your last throw are your hand.Say the hand out loud so the table can check it.
7: When every player has had a turn, the highest hand wins the round.Step 8 gives the order.
8: Best hand: five of a kind. Then four of a kind, full house, straight, three of a kind.Then two pairs, one pair and, last, five faces with no pair.
9: Ours: the winner of a round scores 1 point. Play to 5, or to a total you agree on.Points on paper are all the game needs.
Show all 43 rows (34 more)
The hands, best to worst 9
1: Five of a kind: all five dice show the same face.Five aces is the best hand in the game.
2: Four of a kind: four dice alike and one odd die.Such as 10 10 10 10 A.
3: Full house: three of one face and two of another.The three decide it: Q Q Q 9 9 beats J J J A A.
4: Straight: five faces in a row. There are only two.A K Q J 10 is the higher; K Q J 10 9 is the lower.
5: Three of a kind: three dice alike, the other two different.Such as 9 9 9 K J.
6: Two pairs: two of one face, two of another and one odd die.The higher pair decides it: A A 9 9 J beats K K Q Q 9.
7: One pair: two dice alike, the other three all different.Such as 10 10 K Q 9.
8: No pair: five different faces that do not make a straight.Only four such hands exist, and each holds both an ace and a 9.
9: There is no flush: the dice have no suits.So there is no straight flush either.
Ties and table rulings 9
1: Faces rank ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9. The ace is the highest.With five dice and six faces, the ace never counts low.
2: Two hands of the same kind: the higher faces in the combination win.Four aces beat four kings.
3: Still tied: compare the dice outside the combination.K K K K J beats K K K K 10.
4: Two full houses: compare the threes first, then the pairs.Q Q Q J J beats Q Q Q 9 9.
5: Quicker rule: ignore the odd dice, and call hands with the same combination a tie.Faster, with more ties.
6: Ours: players tied for the best hand each take a fresh turn to settle the round.Only those players throw.
7: Common rule: nobody may take more throws than the first player of the round took.The first player stops after two throws, and everyone gets two.
8: May a die set aside after the first throw be thrown again on the third?The sources read for this page do not say. Agree before the first throw.
9: Ours: take turns going first, since the first player sets the pace.The start passes to the left each round.
Variations, each one marked 8
1: Variation: two throws a turn, not three.A quicker round.
2: Variation: after the first throw, no more than three dice may be thrown again.So at least two dice of the first throw stay.
3: Variation: wild faces. The table agrees on a face that counts as any face.With ordinary dice, some tables make the 1 wild.
4: Older rule: straights do not count. Five different faces are always a bust.Then nothing sits between a full house and three of a kind.
5: Variation: the straight ranks above the full house, because it is the rarer throw.The standard order follows card poker.
6: Variation: A K Q J 10 is called a flush and beats four of a kind.At those tables K Q J 10 9 is the only straight, and it beats a full house.
7: Variation: the straight ranks between four of a kind and five of a kind.Say where the straight sits before the first throw.
8: For two, with a set each: throw behind a screen and bid hands, as in liar's dice.Each player sees only their own five dice.
With ordinary dice 8
1: Five ordinary dice play the same game. Each number stands for one face.Nothing else about the rules changes.
2: 1 is the ace, the highest face.Not the lowest, as the pips suggest.
3: 6 is the king and 5 is the queen.The next two faces down.
4: 4 is the jack, 3 is the 10 and 2 is the 9, the lowest face.High to low: 1, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
5: So 1 1 1 6 6 is a full house: three aces and two kings.And 2 2 5 5 4 is two pairs: queens and 9s.
6: The high straight is 1 3 4 5 6. The low straight is 2 3 4 5 6.1 2 3 4 5 is no straight on this chart: the 1 is the ace.
7: Another chart: plain number order, 6 as the ace down to 1 as the 9.Then 2 3 4 5 6 is the high straight and 1 2 3 4 5 the low one.
8: Pick one chart before the first throw, and say it out loud.A hand is worth different things on the two charts.
How this list was compiled: Written for this site on 2026-10-13, in our own words. Poker dice is a traditional dice game with no governing body, and rule books differ in the details. The sheets were checked on 2026-10-13 against English Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, Poker dice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_dice, and against the rule page of the dice games site Dice Play: https://www.dice-play.com/Games/PokerDice.htm. Both give five dice with the faces ace, king, queen, jack, 10 and 9, up to three throws a turn with dice set aside between throws, the best hand winning after every player has had a turn, ordinary dice as a stand-in, and the rule that later players may be held to the number of throws the first player took (Wikipedia says generally, Dice Play says in some versions). Two or more players and usually no more than five, the order of the hands, the two straights, the four hands with no pair, no flush, ties settled by the dice in the combination and then by the other dice or with those dice ignored, two throws, three dice thrown again, wild faces by agreement, straights as busts in older rules, the other places a straight may rank, the hand called a flush, the two-player game with a set each and the chart with 1 as the ace are as Wikipedia gives them. The examples of a full house and of two pairs, the chart with 6 as the ace and the 1 as a wild face are as Dice Play gives them. Wikipedia's table also lists payouts for a banked version; this page leaves every payout out and scores points, and the point for a round is ours. Rows marked ours are this site's own and are not official. The count of throws (7,776 in all, 300 a full house, 240 a straight) was counted throw by throw and matches Wikipedia's table. Licence: own work
How it works
Poker dice is a game for two or more players. Each die shows 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace in place of pips. Five ordinary dice work with a chart, and each round here is scored in points.
Read the full guide
Rules to the poker dice game: one turn
Your first throw shows K K J 10 9. Keep the kings and throw three: K Q 9. Keep the three kings and throw the last two: Q Q. You finish on a full house, three kings and two queens, which beats any straight.
Why the straight sits below the full house
Five dice can fall 7,776 ways. A full house comes up in 300 of them and a straight in 240, so the straight is the rarer first throw. Tradition still ranks it lower, as card poker does. Variations, each one marked has the tables that turn the two around.
Where the first player's throws set the limit, stopping after one throw on a strong hand leaves everyone else one throw to beat it.
Questions and answers
How do you play the poker dice game?
Throw five dice, keep the ones you like and throw the rest again, up to three throws in all. The five dice you end with are your hand. When everyone has had a turn, the best hand wins the round.
Can you play poker dice with regular dice?
Yes. One chart makes 1 the ace, then 6 the king, 5 the queen, 4 the jack, 3 the 10 and 2 the 9. Another chart simply counts 6 as the ace down to 1 as the 9.
What is the best hand in poker dice?
Five of a kind, and five aces above all. Then come four of a kind, a full house, a straight, three of a kind, two pairs and one pair. Five different faces that are not a straight rank last.
Is there a flush in poker dice?
No. The dice carry no suits, so neither a flush nor a straight flush can be thrown. Some tables give the name flush to the ace-high straight, A K Q J 10, and rank it above four of a kind.
Who wins a tie in poker dice?
The higher faces in the combination: four aces beat four kings. If those match, compare the leftover dice, so K K K K J beats K K K K 10. Hands that match in every die tie the round.