Dice Poker: Rules, Hands, Odds and Strategy (2026)

What is dice poker

Dice poker is a family of dice games where the goal is to roll a combination that looks like a poker hand: pairs, three of a kind, straights, full houses and so on. Instead of 52 cards you have five dice with faces from 1 to 6, so there are no suits — and therefore no flushes.

It is one of the oldest and simplest dice games: it can be played at a table with friends, in mobile apps and browser games, and it is a well-known mini-game in role-playing games. If you want the card version of the same hands, see our poker hand rankings.

Dice poker rules step by step

1. 1
   Players agree on the rules: how many rerolls are allowed, the hand ranking and, if playing for points, the stakes.
2. 2
   The first player rolls all five dice.
3. 3
   The player chooses which dice to keep and rerolls the others. In the most common table version you get up to three rolls in total (the first roll plus two rerolls); in The Witcher and many simple versions there is one reroll.
4. 4
   Kept dice can usually be rerolled on the next roll too — the player may change their mind between rolls. Some groups lock kept dice; agree on this in advance.
5. 5
   After the last roll the player’s hand is fixed. Then the next player takes a turn.
6. 6
   When everyone has rolled, the best hand wins the round. A game is usually played to a set number of round wins or points.

Dice poker hands: from a pair to five of a kind

Hands from the weakest to the strongest in the most common ranking:

Ranking order and ties

When two players have the same type of hand, the higher dice win. Sixes are the highest value, ones the lowest (in some rules the 1 counts as the highest, like an ace — agree in advance).

• Pair, three of a kind, four or five of a kind: the higher value wins — three sixes beat three fives.
• Two pair: compare the higher pair first, then the lower pair.
• Full house: compare the three of a kind first, then the pair.
• Straights: the large straight beats the small one.
• If the hands are equal, many players compare the remaining dice (kickers); others call it a draw or replay the round.

Straight variants: small and large

With five dice from 1 to 6 there are only two possible five-die straights: 1-2-3-4-5 and 2-3-4-5-6. Most rules count both and rank the large one higher. Some house rules treat them as one hand, and a few allow a “wrap-around” straight — check before the game.

Where straights sit in the ranking also varies. The common order (used in The Witcher, for example) puts them between three of a kind and the full house. Some families rank the straight above the full house because the straight is rarer on a single roll — see the odds below.

Dice poker odds: every hand on one roll

One roll of five dice has 6 × 6 × 6 × 6 × 6 = 7,776 equally likely outcomes. Counting them gives the exact chance of each hand before any reroll:

Two things surprise most players. First, a straight is rarer than a full house on one roll (3.09% vs 3.86%). Second, a roll with no combination is rarer than two pair or three of a kind — with five dice and only six values, some die usually repeats. With rerolls the chances of every strong hand go up, which is why the number of rerolls matters so much.

Reroll strategy: which dice to keep

In a turn with rerolls the main decision is what to keep. The table shows exact chances for one reroll of the remaining dice:

A worked example

You roll 4-4-2-5-6 with two rerolls left and need to beat an opponent’s three of a kind. Keeping the pair of fours and rerolling three dice gives about a 44% chance of three of a kind or better on the next roll alone, and you still have one more try. Keeping 2-4-5-6 for a straight leaves only one winning value (a 3) per reroll — about 17%. The pair is the better choice.

Dice poker vs Yahtzee, General and Liar’s Dice

Several popular games use the same five dice and similar combinations, but the goal is different.

Yahtzee and General reward planning over a whole game; dice poker is decided round by round. Liar’s Dice has bluffing — closer to real poker in spirit than dice poker itself.

Dice poker in The Witcher and other video games

Dice poker reached millions of players through The Witcher (2007) and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, where it is a tavern mini-game with its own opponents and side quests. In these games you place a bet, roll five dice, choose which ones to reroll once, and the better hand takes the pot. In The Witcher 3 dice poker was replaced by the card game Gwent.

Many other games and apps include dice poker or close relatives — from mobile dice games to tavern mini-games in medieval RPGs. Rules in each one can differ slightly, so look at the in-game help for the hand order.

Where to play dice poker online

Dice poker is easy to find online for free: browser games, mobile apps, and multiplayer dice games where you can play with friends or random opponents. You can also play with five real dice and a notepad — that is all the equipment you need.

• What to check in a dice poker app
• How many rerolls the game allows — one or two.
• The hand order, especially where straights sit relative to the full house.
• Whether you play for points or for real money — most apps are free entertainment.
• Ratings and reviews of the app before you install it.

Dice poker and real poker

Dice poker borrows the names of poker hands but not the game itself: there are no community cards, no betting rounds on every street and almost no hidden information. If dice poker made you curious about the real thing, start with our poker rules, Texas Hold’em guide and learning plan for beginners. To get a feel for probabilities in card poker, try the equity calculator.

Club poker apps such as ClubGG and PPPoker don’t offer dice poker — they run Hold’em and Omaha games between players. Here are top ClubGG clubs from our catalog, ranked by player reviews.

ClubGG 4.5 · 1PPPokerReviews & guide

RatePokerClub catalogTop ClubGG clubs by player reviews

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#1MOJO 24.51 reviewRakeback 50%Union: Massive Poker UnionOpen club #2MOJO 1No reviews yetRakeback 50%Union: AllinUnionOpen club #3Mr Pink PantherNo reviews yetRakeback 40%Open club #4ZerakeNo reviews yetRakeback Zero RakeOpen club #5POKER VIBE UANo reviews yetRakeback 40%Open club

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