Drunk Poker is regular poker with drinking penalties added to the hands, folds, losses, and sometimes wins. Most groups use Texas Hold’em, although Five-Card Draw, Omaha, and other poker variants can work too.
The important part: there is no single official Drunk Poker ruleset.
Some versions make you drink when you fold. Others punish losing at showdown. Some let the winner hand out drinks. And some replace normal betting entirely with “sip bets.”
That means you need to settle the drinking rules before somebody loses a giant pot and suddenly develops a very specific interpretation of the rulebook.
DRUNK POKER RULES — QUICK VERSION
- Play normal poker. Texas Hold’em is the easiest default.
- Give every player an equal stack of poker chips.
- Play each hand normally: deal, bet, fold, call, raise, and go to showdown.
- If you fold, take 1 sip.
- If you lose at showdown, take 2 sips.
- The winner of the hand may assign 1 sip.
- The poker chips stay poker chips. Do not make huge chip pots equal huge drinking penalties.
- Keep playing for a set number of hands, a time limit, or until one player has all the chips.
To play Drunk Poker: set up a normal poker game, usually Texas Hold’em, then add small drinking penalties for folding or losing hands. Players still compete for poker chips normally, while the drinking rules run alongside the actual poker game. The winner can be whoever has the most chips after a set time or the last player with chips in a tournament-style game.
What Is the Drunk Poker Drinking Game?
Drunk Poker is not really a separate form of poker.
It is a drinking-game version of an existing poker game.
You play Texas Hold’em, Five-Card Draw, Omaha, or another poker variant using its normal rules. Drinking penalties are then attached to events such as folding, losing at showdown, getting eliminated, winning a hand, or getting caught bluffing.
The simplest version is basically:
PLAY POKER → LOSE OR FOLD → DRINK → NEXT HAND
That's also why searching for “Drunk Poker rules” produces different answers. The poker portion is standardized. The drinking portion usually isn't.
This guide uses Texas Hold’em as the default version because its betting rounds, folds, and showdowns give the drinking rules obvious places to fit.
What You Need to Play Drunk Poker
- 2–10 players
- One standard 52-card deck
- Poker chips
- A table or other flat playing surface
- A dealer button or something to mark the dealer — optional but useful
- Drinks — alcoholic or non-alcoholic
You technically can play heads-up with two people, but 3–6 players is a much better drinking-game setup. You get enough folding, bluffing, and actual competition without turning every hand into a 20-minute committee meeting.
Do You Need Poker Chips?
No, but you should use them.
Chips make betting easy to track and give the game an actual winner. Coins, candy, bottle caps, or another pile of identical objects can substitute if you don't own poker chips.
Our recommendation is to keep chip value completely separate from drinking value.
A $500-equivalent poker bet should not somehow become 500 sips. That is not a clever poker mechanic. That is just terrible math applied to alcohol.
Best Number of Players for Drunk Poker
| Players | How It Plays |
|---|---|
| 2 | Playable as heads-up poker, but less social and more repetitive. |
| 3–4 | Fast hands, plenty of action, easy to teach. |
| 5–6 | Best overall. Enough players for real poker without painfully slow hands. |
| 7–10 | Works, but expect longer hands and more downtime. |
How to Set Up Drunk Poker
1. Pick Your Poker Version
Texas Hold’em is our recommended default.
It is easy to find hand rankings for beginners, it works with a wide range of group sizes, and its fold/bet/showdown structure works cleanly with drinking penalties.
If everyone already knows Five-Card Draw, Omaha, or another poker game, use that instead.
2. Give Everyone the Same Number of Chips
Every player should start with an equal stack.
You do not need real-money values unless your group wants them. Something simple like 20, 30, or 50 chips each works fine as long as the blinds make sense relative to the stack.
3. Choose the Blinds
In Texas Hold’em, the two players immediately to the left of the dealer post forced bets:
- Small blind
- Big blind
The big blind is normally larger than the small blind.
For a casual drinking game, don't waste time recreating a casino structure. Just pick small blinds that let everyone survive plenty of hands.
4. Agree on the Drinking Rules
This is the step people skip and then regret.
Decide:
- Does folding cause a drink?
- Does losing at showdown cause a drink?
- Can the winner assign drinks?
- Are there bonuses for certain poker hands?
- What happens when someone gets eliminated?
- How does the game end?
If nobody has a preferred version, use the CollegeWares rules farther down this page.
How to Play Drunk Poker
The following walkthrough uses Texas Hold’em.
1. Post the Blinds
The player left of the dealer posts the small blind. The next player posts the big blind.
These are normal poker chip bets.
They are not drinks.
2. Deal Two Cards to Each Player
Every player receives two face-down hole cards.
Only you can see your hole cards.
3. Play the Pre-Flop Betting Round
Players now decide whether to:
- Fold — abandon the hand
- Call — match the current bet
- Raise — increase the current bet
If your Drunk Poker rules include a folding penalty, take it when you fold.
Under our rules: fold = 1 sip.
4. Deal the Flop
The dealer places three community cards face up in the center of the table.
These three cards are the flop.
Another betting round follows.
Players still in the hand may check, bet, call, raise, or fold depending on the previous action.
5. Deal the Turn
The dealer adds one more community card.
This is the turn.
Play another betting round.
6. Deal the River
The dealer adds the fifth and final community card.
This is the river.
Play the final betting round.
7. Go to Showdown
If at least two players remain after the final betting round, they reveal their cards.
Each player makes the best possible five-card poker hand from their two private cards and the five community cards.
The best hand wins the pot.
Under our drinking rules:
- Everyone who reaches showdown and loses takes 2 sips.
- The winner may assign 1 sip to any player.
8. Move the Dealer Button and Play Again
The dealer position moves clockwise.
Post new blinds and start another hand.
BLINDS → 2 HOLE CARDS → BET → FLOP → BET → TURN → BET → RIVER → BET → SHOWDOWN
Poker Hand Rankings for Drunk Poker
If your group doesn't regularly play poker, keep this table open.
Highest hand wins.
| Rank | Poker Hand | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Flush | A-K-Q-J-10, same suit |
| 2 | Straight Flush | Five consecutive cards, same suit |
| 3 | Four of a Kind | Four cards of the same rank |
| 4 | Full House | Three of a kind + a pair |
| 5 | Flush | Five cards of the same suit |
| 6 | Straight | Five consecutive ranks |
| 7 | Three of a Kind | Three cards of the same rank |
| 8 | Two Pair | Two separate pairs |
| 9 | One Pair | Two cards of the same rank |
| 10 | High Card | No other completed hand |
Players do not have to use both hole cards in Texas Hold’em. Your final hand is simply the best five-card combination available from your hole cards and the board.
Drunk Poker Drinking Rules
This is where Drunk Poker stops being standardized.
The following rules are common ways groups add drinking to normal poker, but they are house rules rather than universal poker rules.
Fold = Drink
A player who folds takes a small drink.
This is probably the cleanest Drunk Poker rule because it prevents people from folding every mediocre hand without consequence.
Keep it small. One sip is plenty.
Lose at Showdown = Drink
Anyone who stays in until showdown but loses takes a penalty.
Two sips works well because reaching showdown carries slightly more risk than folding.
Winner Assigns Drinks
The player who wins the pot may give one or more drinks to another player.
This adds a social element that normal poker obviously doesn't have.
We recommend one assigned sip per hand. Winning a giant poker pot doesn't need to translate into somebody drinking half a case.
Eliminated Player Drinks
In tournament-style Drunk Poker, some groups give a drinking penalty to anyone who loses all their chips.
This works mechanically, but keep the penalty modest. The player just spent potentially dozens of hands collecting penalties on the way to getting eliminated.
Special Hand Bonuses
Some versions reward unusually strong hands such as:
- Full house
- Four of a kind
- Straight flush
- Royal flush
A simple version is to let the winner assign one additional sip for a full house or better.
You don't need seven different drinking values for every poker hand. You're playing cards, not calculating federal withholding.
What Happens If Everyone Else Folds?
The last remaining player wins the pot without a showdown.
That is normal poker.
Under our Drunk Poker rules, every player who folded already took their one-sip penalty. The winner still gets to assign one sip.
The winner does not have to reveal their cards.
Yes, they may have been completely full of shit.
That's poker.
How Does Bluffing Work in Drunk Poker?
Bluffing works exactly like normal poker.
You represent a stronger hand through your betting and try to convince other players to fold.
There is no standard poker action called “calling someone's bluff.” Calling a bet simply keeps you in the hand. If the hand reaches showdown, you'll eventually see whether the bettor actually had it.
Some Drunk Poker versions add an extra penalty for an unsuccessful bluff, but that creates an obvious problem:
Who decides what technically counts as a bluff?
A player betting a mediocre hand isn't automatically bluffing, and nobody needs a 12-person Supreme Court hearing over whether bottom pair was “basically a bluff.”
Unless your group really wants that rule, skip it.
Our Recommended Drunk Poker Rules
Drunk Poker gets worse when every poker event has a different drinking multiplier attached to it.
Keep the poker complicated and the drinking rules stupidly simple.
COLLEGEWARES DRUNK POKER RULES
- Poker version: Texas Hold’em
- Players: 3–6 recommended
- Fold: Take 1 sip
- Lose at showdown: Take 2 sips
- Win the hand: Assign 1 sip
- Win with a full house or better: Assign 1 extra sip
- Get eliminated: No mandatory chug or shot
- Chip bets: Completely separate from drinking penalties
- All-in: Normal poker all-in; it does not mean “all-in with drinks”
- End: Tournament elimination or a predetermined time limit
This version keeps folding meaningful, rewards staying alive through showdown, and doesn't create situations where losing one monster pot somehow owes another player 37 drinks.
Drunk Poker House Rules & Variations
Sip-Betting Poker
Some versions replace traditional stakes with drinks.
Players might say “I bet one sip” or use chips to represent drinking units.
The losing player then drinks according to the agreed betting system.
This version exists, but we do not recommend letting drink penalties scale freely with normal poker betting. Poker betting is deliberately designed to escalate. Your drink shouldn't.
If you use sip betting, set a hard cap before starting.
Winner Assigns the Pot
Instead of losers automatically drinking, some groups allow the winner to distribute drinks based on the pot.
Again: cap it.
Use the chips to determine who wins the poker game, not to create an alcohol spreadsheet.
Strong-Hand Bonuses
A winning flush, full house, four of a kind, or better can allow additional assigned drinks.
Pick one threshold before playing.
Full house or better = one bonus sip is easy to remember.
Dealer Mistake Penalty
Some groups make the dealer drink for a misdeal.
Fine as a house rule, but it has nothing to do with normal poker rules.
If half the table barely knows how to deal Hold’em, maybe don't punish people for learning.
Timed Drunk Poker
Instead of playing until one person owns every chip, set a timer.
When time expires, the player with the largest chip stack wins.
This version works better for a party because a full poker tournament can take a long damn time.
How Do You Win Drunk Poker?
Win Drunk Poker the same way you win the poker format you're playing.
For tournament-style Texas Hold’em, the last player with chips wins.
For a shorter party version, agree on a time limit or number of hands. When it ends, whoever has the largest chip stack wins.
Drinking the least is not technically the objective, although it certainly doesn't hurt your decision-making.
Drunk Poker vs. Irish Poker
Drunk Poker and Irish Poker are different drinking games.
Drunk Poker usually means playing an actual poker variant with drinking rules added.
Irish Poker is generally a card-prediction drinking game built around guesses such as red or black, higher or lower, inside or outside, and suit. Despite the name, it does not play like a normal hand of Texas Hold’em.
| Drunk Poker | Irish Poker | |
|---|---|---|
| Actual poker? | Usually yes | No |
| Betting? | Usually | No traditional poker betting |
| Bluffing? | Central to normal poker strategy | Not the main mechanic |
| Main mechanic | Poker hands + drinking penalties | Predicting card properties |
If you're looking for actual poker night with drinking added, you're on the right page.
Is Drunk Poker Good for a Party?
Yes, if most of the table understands basic poker.
It works especially well for:
- Smaller house parties
- Poker nights
- Pregames where people are actually sitting down
- Groups that want more strategy than pure luck
It is less useful when 15 people are wandering around, nobody wants to sit still, and somebody asks what a straight is every four minutes.
For that type of party, browse the CollegeWares Drinking Games collection for something faster.
Is Drunk Poker Good for Beer Olympics?
Usually not.
Poker has a clear winner, but it is much slower than typical Beer Olympics games and can vary wildly in length.
You could use a short timed version, but traditional tournament poker is a bad choice if six other events are waiting behind it.
Common Drunk Poker Mistakes
Tying Drinks Directly to Chip Values
This sounds clever for approximately one hand.
Then somebody shoves 40 chips into the middle.
Keep drinking penalties fixed or capped.
Adding Too Many Bonus Rules
You do not need:
- Pair penalties
- Straight penalties
- Flush penalties
- Aces penalties
- River penalties
- Dealer penalties
- Bluff penalties
- Bad beat penalties
Eventually you stop playing poker and start auditing alcohol transactions.
Two or three drinking rules are enough.
Not Explaining Poker First
If somebody doesn't understand Hold’em, teach them what fold, call, raise, flop, turn, river, and showdown mean before starting.
Adding drinking rules does not make poker easier to learn.
Using Shots as Normal Penalties
Don't.
A poker game can run for dozens of hands. Use small sips and let anyone substitute water or another non-alcoholic drink.
Can You Play Drunk Poker Without Alcohol?
Yes.
Nothing about the actual poker mechanics requires alcohol.
Use water, soda, seltzer, or another drink and keep every penalty exactly the same.
You can also replace drink penalties with points if you want the same secondary-rule system without drinking at all.
Drunk Poker FAQ
How do you play the Drunk Poker drinking game?
Play a normal poker game and add drinking penalties to specific events.
A simple version uses Texas Hold’em: folding costs one sip, losing at showdown costs two sips, and the winner of each hand assigns one sip. Continue playing normally for chips until the tournament ends or a preset time expires.
What are the official Drunk Poker rules?
There is no single official Drunk Poker drinking-game ruleset.
The common idea is traditional poker with drinking penalties added, but specific penalties for folds, losses, winning hands, bluffs, and elimination vary by group.
What poker game should you use for Drunk Poker?
Texas Hold’em is the easiest default.
Its four betting rounds and familiar fold/call/raise structure work well with drinking penalties. Five-Card Draw, Omaha, and other poker variants can also be adapted.
How many people can play Drunk Poker?
Texas Hold’em can be played with 2–10 players at a table, with roughly 3–6 being ideal for casual Drunk Poker.
Two-player heads-up poker works, while larger groups create longer hands and more downtime.
Do you bet drinks in Drunk Poker?
Sometimes, but you don't have to.
Some Drunk Poker variations replace or supplement traditional betting with sip bets. We recommend using ordinary poker chips and keeping drinking penalties separate so large poker bets don't create ridiculous drinking penalties.
What happens when you fold in Drunk Poker?
A common house rule is that folding costs one sip.
There is no universal folding penalty, so establish the rule before playing.
What happens when you lose a hand of Drunk Poker?
Most versions give the losing player some type of drinking penalty.
Our recommended version makes players who lose at showdown take two sips. Players who folded earlier already took their one-sip folding penalty.
Does the winner drink in Drunk Poker?
Usually not as a penalty.
Many versions instead let the winner assign drinks to another player. Under our rules, the winner assigns one sip.
What happens if someone goes all-in?
All-in should work exactly like normal poker.
The player puts their remaining poker chips into the pot. It should not mean they are wagering an equivalent number of drinks.
How do you win Drunk Poker?
The player who wins the underlying poker game wins Drunk Poker.
In tournament play, that means being the final player with chips. In a timed party version, the player with the most chips when time expires wins.
Is Drunk Poker the same as Irish Poker?
No.
Drunk Poker normally uses genuine poker gameplay with drinking penalties. Irish Poker is generally a prediction game involving guesses such as red or black, higher or lower, inside or outside, and suit.
Can two people play Drunk Poker?
Yes.
Two players can play heads-up Texas Hold’em or another two-player poker variation with the same drinking rules. Three or more players generally creates a better social game.
Can you play Drunk Poker without poker chips?
Yes.
Use coins, candy, bottle caps, or another substitute to track betting. You can technically play without chips at all, but the game works much better when players have visible stacks.
Drunk Poker in One Sentence
Play normal poker, take a small drink when you fold or lose, and try to protect both your chip stack and your increasingly questionable decision-making.
