TRIPLE DRAW
by Daniel Negreanu
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, triple draw has steadily increased in popularity. In fact, these days you will rarely find a high-limit game at the Bellagio in Las Vegas that does not include some form of triple draw. Typically, tables that are $200/$400 and higher are mixed games, so in order to participate you’ll have to learn the fundamentals of several forms of poker, including triple draw.
In this chapter, we’ll cover the deuce-to-seven form of triple draw. It is the more widespread and intricate of the two most common triple draw games, the other being ace-to-five lowball. Most of what you’ll learn here applies to ace-to-five as well, but near the end of the chapter, I will go over the key differences between the two games and the necessary adjustments you’ll need to make when moving from one to the other.
There is a common misconception among some high-limit players that triple draw is nothing more than a game of pure luck. That’s simply not the case. While luck plays a role in any given hand, playing correctly will minimize any dangerous swings that luck may bring, and skill will prevail.
Triple draw has caught on so quickly because of the allure of action and big pots. Typical triple draw pots are larger than those generated by a hand of Omaha high-low, for example. You’ll also notice that when you add triple draw to a mix of other games, it tends to liven up everyone’s play.
Triple draw is an action game, no question about it. You’ll need to have your seat belt on at all times. To better prepare you for the bumpy ride, this chapter will give you all the tools you’ll need to become a winning player. I’ll provide you with a basic set of principles that, if followed closely, should be enough to enable you to beat almost any triple draw game in the world.
HOW TO PLAY THE GAME
Before we get into any strategy discussion, it’s important that you understand the rules of the game, as well as how the betting works. The rules are rather simple: You are dealt five cards facedown and can choose to draw as many cards as you wish, up to three times. You can stop drawing at any point, which is more commonly known as standing pat.
In deuce-to-seven triple draw, the winner of the pot at the showdown is the player with the worst poker hand. For example, 2-3-4-5-7 with no flush is the worst hand in traditional poker but the best hand in deuce-to-seven. Straights and flushes count against you in deuce-to-seven, so 4-5-8-9-Q would actually beat 2-3-4-5-6, a straight. Also, in deuce-to-seven, an ace can only be used for high, and not for low. This leads to the rare case of the worst traditional poker hand winning. Since an ace is always high, 5-4-3-2-A is not a straight, and it beats any pair or other ace-high.
The rules for ace-to-five are slightly different. The best hand in ace-to-five is simply A-2-3-4-5. Flushes and straights don’t count against you, and an ace is considered a one. In this game, the winner of the pot is the player with the five lowest unpaired cards. So A-2-3-5-Q would beat A-2-2-3-4. If, by the river, the two remaining players both have a pair, the lower pair wins. For example: A-A-5-6-9 would beat 2-2-3-4-5.
TRIPLE DRAW LOWBALL
The Deal
The deal is similar to hold’em, with a button, small blind, and, of course, a big blind. Since there are so many drawing rounds, this game can only be played six-handed; otherwise you would run out of cards too often. It is possible to play the game seven- or eight-handed, but only if players sit out on every deal. When playing seven-handed, the player to the left of the big blind is forced to sit out one hand. Eight-handed, the players in first and second positions sit out.
Betting
In some areas of the South, they play spread-limit, meaning that in a $100/$400 game, you can bet from $100 to $400 at any time, but the more popular betting structure is fixed limits. If you are seated in a $200/$400 triple draw game, the small blind posts $100 and the big blind $200. If you are first to act, you can fold, call the $200, or raise it to $400. Every player after you has the same options: fold, call, or raise. Once that action is complete, there is another betting round, also in $200 increments, after the first draw. After the second draw, the bet doubles. You can now bet or raise $400. Finally, after the third draw, the bet is once again $400.
So there are four betting rounds in total. In a $200/$400 game, they would be:
(1) $200 before the first draw;
(2) $200 after the first draw;
(3) $400 after the second draw; and
(4) $400 after the third draw.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s look at what types of hands we should be starting with.
Starting Hands
First and foremost: Don’t leave the gate without a deuce. In deuce-to-seven triple draw, the lowly deuce is more powerful than any other card. Your goal in deuce-to-seven triple draw would be to make a seven, and in order to do so, you must have a deuce in your hand. There are four possible sevens, all of which contain a deuce:
(1) 2-3-4-5-7 (known as a wheel or number one, for obvious reasons, and equivalent in ranking to the A-2-3-4-5 wheel in ace-to-five.)
(2) 2-3-4-6-7 (known as number two)
(3) 2-3-5-6-7 (known as number three)
(4) 2-4-5-6-7 (known as number four)
While 3-4-5-6-7 gives you five cards to a seven, it also makes a straight that can’t be used in deuce-to-seven lowball. So obviously, most starting hands have a deuce in them.
Pat Hands
If you are dealt a pat hand—a good hand that requires no discarding or drawing on your part—you want to protect it by putting in every bet you can. Any pat seven is a monster, and while a pat eight is great, it is also vulnerable. For the most part, if you are dealt a pat seven or eight you won’t be drawing at all, and depending on the action, you’ll probably see the hand through to the end.
Once you’ve decided to stay pat with your seven or eight, there is no need to slow-play your hand. Bet and raise at every opportunity before the draw and after the first draw. With a pat hand, smooth calling before the draw is pointless, since your secret will be out as soon as the dealer asks you how many cards you want. Once you say, “I’m good,” your opponents will know that you have a seven, eight, or maybe a nine.
A nine, however, is more difficult to play. In some situations, it may be okay to stay pat with a nine, but in general you want to avoid even playing a rough nine. You’d be better off placing a hand like 9-8-7-6-4 in the muck than hoping it holds up in a multiway pot.
However, if you held something like 9-7-4-3-2, you would have a dynamite draw. You would discard the nine and have three chances at a seven. You are certainly a favorite to make at least a nine or better with a draw like this, since you’d have fifteen outs three times! That makes you a big favorite over a foolish opponent who stays pat with the same nine.
One-Card Draws
All seven draws and most one-card eight draws are playable, provided you don’t have a straight draw. While 4-5-6-7 is only one card from making a seven, only the valuable 2 will help you. If you are in a multiway pot, there may not even be a 2 left in the deck to save you! Even if you are lucky enough to catch a deuce, your hand is far from unbeatable. If any other player makes his seven, the best you can do is tie.
Unless you actually have a wheel you always want to be heads-up. Of course, if you have a draw like 2-3-4-7, you should welcome as many players as possible. However, to avoid giving away information about the strength of your hand, you should always raise and reraise with any one-card draw you decide to play.
As I said previously, any good seven draw should be played aggressively, regardless of your position, provided you don’t have a straight draw. To a lesser extent, if you decide to play a straight draw, such as 2-3-4-5, 2-3-4-6, 2-3-5-6, or 2-4-5-6, play it aggressively, too. While a 7 would be the perfect catch for any of these four hands, and an 8 would be welcome, the straight potential makes them slightly less valuable than the other seven draws.
While a one-card eight draw with no straight possible isn’t bad, any eight draw with a straight possible is almost always unplayable.
Here are the one-card eight draws you can often play:
These hands are too good to fold. When playing them, though, be sure to target one opponent or pick up the blinds. Any time you play a one-card draw, regardless of its ranking on the strength chart, you should be raising and reraising before the first draw.
In fact, any hand you choose to play before the first draw should be raised. There are few situations where limping is correct. If your hand is strong enough to play, play it aggressively. If it’s not, send it to the muck. In triple draw, your strategy before the draw should be similar to that used in limit hold’em before the flop—tight but aggressive.
Two-Card Draws
The majority of the hands you play before the first draw will be two-card draws. The following two-card draws can be played for any amount of bets before the draw:
All these hands give you an opportunity later to draw at one card at the wheel without the presence of a straight draw. If you are dealt any of these hands, raise it. In fact, if you are in position, I would advise reraising. That way you can isolate one player while having position, which makes it easier to control the action.
2-3-4 vs. 2-3-7
vs.
There has always been a great deal of debate over what the best starting hand is when drawing two. Is it the 2-3-4 or the
2-3-7?
Let me start by saying that it simply doesn’t matter very much. You should play both hands the same way. The hands are so close in strength that wasting too much time talking about which is better is silly, but I’m going to do it anyway to illustrate the concept.
After running several simulations, I found the following: if the 2-3-4 ran against precisely 2-3-7, the 2-3-7 would be less than a 1 percent favorite. That makes the 2-3-7 the best hand then, right? Wrong. Against any other hand your opponent might have, the 2-3-4 would do better than the 2-3-7. Since you are rarely going to be in a situation where you hold 2-3-4 against precisely 2-3-7, I would say that the 2-3-4 is the best starting hand in terms of two-card draws.
You always want to be drawing from the bottom up. The smoother your draw, the more often you will win the pot when both you and your opponent make your hand. For example, if both the 2-3-4 and the 2-3-7 make an 8-7, the 2-3-4 can’t lose! The 2-3-4 could make only 2-3-4-7-8, while the 2-3-7 would make 8-7s that look like this:
2-3-4-7-8
2-3-5-7-8
2-3-6-7-8
Notice how much stronger the first 8 is? With the 2-3-7 you’ll often have to make a tough decision later as to whether or not you should draw to a 2-3-7-8 or throw the 8 away and go for the wheel. With the 2-3-4 you would simply keep the 8 every time.
Be Wary of the 6. There are four other two-card draw starting hands that should also be played in most situations. They are draws that contain a 6 that could still make you a 7-low. Here they are:
2-3-6
2-4-6
2-5-6
2-6-7
None of these draws can make a wheel, and the first three may actually cause you problems due to the presence of a possible straight. I would still advise you to play these hands in most situations, but you should fold them in the face of too much action, especially if the raises came from tight players.
Good Eight Draws. A good eight draw is one that could make number five (2-3-4-5-8), such as 2-3-8, 2-4-8, and
2-5-8—but again, be wary of the 6. If you make your hand with a 6 in it, you might lose to eights at the showdown. From early position, each of these hands can be folded safely. However, if you are in late position and no one has entered when it’s your turn to act, you should raise with these hands. These hands are strong enough to defend your blind with as well. We’ll learn more about blind play later in the section.
Trouble Hands Worth Playing
The following starting hands should only be played when stealing blinds or defending them:
3-4-8 3-5-7
3-5-8 3-6-7
3-4-7 4-5-7
These are trouble hands or trash hands, and they do much better in position and in heads-up situations. When dealt one of these hands, you often find yourself with either a bad eight draw or a straight seven draw. If you don’t improve quickly with one of these hands, you should abort mission and throw them in the muck. Obviously, the one key card you are looking to catch would be the powerful deuce. As a general rule, you don’t want to draw to a hand that needs a deuce to fill it—you should already have one.
Three-Card Draws
There are only two situations where you can justify drawing three:
(1) Stealing on the button.
(2) Defending your blind.
If you are going to draw three, one of the two cards you keep simply has to be a 2. Here are the hands worth drawing three on:
2-3
2-4
2-5
2-7
Notice we left out the 2-6. You are already on a steal drawing three; let’s not compound the problem by drawing rough as well! It is usually correct to draw three out of the big blind with a hand like 2-3, as long as it only costs you one more bet.
Also, if no one has entered the pot, you can attempt to steal the blinds from the button with one of these three-card draws. The fact that you have position makes it likely that playing one of these hands will be profitable. After all, there is still a chance you’ll win the blinds without a fight.
Since you are drawing three, chances are one of those three cards will help you. Any of the following: 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 would improve a 2-3 starting hand enough to draw once more.
Four- and Five-Card Draws
Simple: Don’t do it. The only time you should draw four is when you are the big blind in an unraised pot. In that case, keep a 2, 3, 4, 5, or 7, and discard the rest.
Playing from the Blinds
Playing out of the big blind can be very tricky. Though you will usually get excellent pot odds, if you start with rough draws, you will make rough hands and receive rough bruises to your bankroll!
You certainly want to stretch your starting requirements some, but if you go too far, you are going to be left with too many difficult decisions on later streets. For example, drawing two out of the big blind with a hand like 4-5-6 is just asking for trouble. What are you looking to catch? A deuce and a 7 or a deuce and an 8? Even if you catch this miracle draw, your hand is still not in the clear. Muck this draw and save yourself some major headaches.
The hands you should add to your playable list are the excellent three-card draws (2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 2-7) and some of the two-card eight draws (3-4-8, 3-5-8). Since you are being laid such great pot odds, you should also add the seven draws that don’t contain a deuce (3-4-7, 3-5-7, 3-6-7, 4-5-7). With rough draws like these, you want to get to the draw as cheaply as possible. Calling one raise is fine; calling two raises is suicide.
Every once in a while you’ll pick up a really strong draw in the blind, such as a one-card draw to a non-straight eight-or-better or a two-card draw to a wheel containing a deuce. If you are holding one of these and find yourself up against a late position raiser, you should punish him by reraising.
Small Blind vs. Big Blind. If everyone folds to you in the small blind, don’t get carried away trying to steal the big blind’s money. In fact, since you don’t have position, you should play tighter than you would if you were the button. A good three-card draw—one containing a deuce and either a 3, 4, 5, or 7—is still playable. Against a loose, aggressive player you should probably limp with these weak hands, but if the big blind plays conservatively, you should raise it. Remember, the small blind acts first on all subsequent rounds of betting, so it’s the worst position at the table. If anyone else has joined the pot, you’d need a solid starting hand to play from the small blind.
If you are in the big blind heads-up against the small blind, you should call one more bet with anything remotely playable. That even includes a three-card draw to a 3-4! There are many reasons why having position is so valuable when playing heads-up. That, in addition to the 3 to 1 odds you’re getting to defend your big blind against the small blind, makes calling the right play with almost any three-card draw to a wheel.
Playing Against a Raise
If you are the button and are facing a raise, you should usually reraise and take the hand heads-up with the power of position. Hands like 2-3-4, 2-3-7, one-card draws, and pat hands are all strong hands that you don’t want to fold. Take control by three-betting it.
If your hand isn’t good enough to three-bet, seriously consider folding. If you’re outside the blind, hands like 2-3-8 are good enough to raise with if no one has entered the pot, but not quite good enough to call a raise with.
Summary
Let me repeat this, because is so important: The deuce is the key card in this game. Most of the hands you choose to play should contain a deuce—there are few exceptions. You might see others drawing to hands that don’t contain a deuce, but don’t fall into that trap.
For the most part, you want to play strong hands that can make the nuts. When you are drawing smooth, you are going to make smooth hands when you hit. If you are drawing rough, you’ll often be drawing to a loser or often even drawing dead!
Playing After the First Draw
Depending on the draw you start with, you’ll generally want to bet and raise when you improve your hand and either check and call or check and fold when you don’t. Again, it all depends on the draw you start with. If you were dealt 2-3-4-7 and were up against any player who drew two, you would bet whether you improved or not. In fact, it would be fine to bet without even looking to see if you improved!
When You Miss
What to do when you don’t improve depends on your position, the number of cards you draw, and the number of cards your opponents draw. If you draw one and your opponents draw two or more, you should always bet. In fact, anytime you are a card ahead of your opponents, it’s safe to bet—with one exception. Here it is: if you draw two and don’t improve, then are called by two players drawing three, you should check. Chances are that one if not both of them improved, so it would be wise to take the free card rather than risk being raised or check-raised.
When out of position and drawing an equal number of cards as your opponents, what you do depends heavily on whether or not you improve. Generally speaking, you should play the hand straightforward, betting when you improve, checking when you miss.
For example, in the small blind with 2-5-6-7, a late position player raises you, and you reraise. You draw one, as does your opponent. If you don’t improve, betting would be silly. Your opponent will almost never fold here, but he will likely raise you if he improves. Sure, you may have a marginally better draw than he does, but that doesn’t justify losing an extra bet if he does improve.
Even if your opponent draws to a 3-4-5-8, it wouldn’t be a disaster if the betting round went check, check. In the best case scenario, you’ll get a bet in as a marginal favorite. In the worst case scenario, you’ll get two bets in as either a significant underdog or drawing dead, while your opponent is drawing smoother than you to begin with.
Now, if you are drawing two cards to a premium hand in a raised multiway pot, you should still call a bet whether you improve or not, since the pot is already sizeable. However, you should rarely call a bet and a raise if you don’t improve your two-card draw, as you will likely find yourself up against either two one-card draws, a one-card draw and a pat hand, or two pat hands. If you do decide to call a double bet, you won’t even know for sure whether it will cost you more to see your next draw. If the first bettor does have a pat hand, he will likely reraise, putting you in a horrible position—drawing two against a pat hand with two draws left.
When You Improve
When you do improve after the first draw, it’s time to get aggressive. Whether you improve to a one-card draw or a vulnerable pat hand, you’ll want to narrow the field as much as possible in multiway pots. Being aggressive in heads-up situations isn’t quite as important. Let’s look at an example.
You raise in first position with 2-4-7. You are called by the button and reraised by the big blind. The big blind draws one, while both you and the button draw two. Now you catch a 5 and a king. The big blind bets and it’s up to you. Should you call or raise?
The correct answer would be raise. While it’s true that you may be up against a pat hand, you’d still have two draws to make a seven or possibly an eight, depending on your opponent’s hand. Forcing the button out is the most important thing. If you just call, he would be getting good enough pot odds to draw two cards. That’s not what you want. You want to secure last position by chasing the button out, then take the hand heads up. If the big blind didn’t improve, you’ll have an even better chance against just one opponent.
What if you are heads up the whole time? Same scenario, except this time there is no third player. In this case, a raise wouldn’t be horrible, but calling would be better. Since you don’t have to worry about knocking out a player, you can simply call here and draw to your hand cheaply. The one key drawback to raising is the risk of your opponent making his hand. It would then cost you three bets rather than one to outdraw him. As I mentioned earlier, you may be giving up a little value since you have the better draw, but that won’t make up for the times you pay extra against a made hand.
Keep the 8 or Draw To the Wheel?
This is probably one of the most difficult decisions you’ll have to make in a triple draw hand. When drawing to a hand like 2-3-7, should you keep the 8 after the first draw and draw rough, or discard it and draw to the wheel?
The reason it is such a difficult decision is because it depends on several variables, including the number of opponents, the number of cards your opponents need, your position, and the discards you made.
Number of Opponents. The more players in the pot, the more you should lean toward discarding the 8 and going for the wheel. The problem with keeping the 8 with more opponents drawing is that it will get beat too often by an 8-6, an 8-5, or a seven.
If you are up against just one opponent, you might decide to keep the 8, but you should consider other factors, like the number of cards your opponent is drawing and your position.
Number of Cards Your Opponent Is Drawing. If your opponents are drawing three or more, you should keep the 8. They need a lot of help, and if you make an 8-7 here, it will usually be good enough to win. If you go to the deck and again draw two, you will be giving them a better shot of getting back into the hand. Draw to the 8-7 and punish them for their loose play!
Position. Position is extremely important. When you are out of position, you won’t have the luxury of knowing how many cards your opponents are drawing. Also, if you are out of position with a rough draw, you may even get outplayed on a later street. As a general rule, when out of position you want to be drawing to the nuts or as close to the nuts as possible. Although 8-7-3-2 may be a good draw, it’s far from the nut draw. The best you can do is make number ten, 2-3-4-7-8.
Conversely, when you are in position, you have more control over your opponents. So, in effect, you can play their hands rather than yours. If you draw one to the 8-7 and your opponents are still drawing two after the first draw, you’ll often win the pot whether you improve or not. Therein lies the value of position.
Discards. We are going to cover this subject in greater detail near the end of the chapter. But for now, we’ll say that generally, the more paired wheel cards you have in your hand, the stronger the hand. While 2-3-4-K-Q and 2-3-4-3-4 appear to be the same draw (2-3-4), the latter is a much stronger hand. Why? Because that extra 3 and 4 might be cards your opponent is looking for but can now no longer catch! Additionally, it makes it less likely that you will pair. Furthermore, if your opponent holds 2-5-7, your discard makes it less likely that he will make his draw now that two of his cards are dead.
So how does that apply to keeping an 8? Simple. The more paired cards you have, the more you should lean toward keeping the 8.
Making an Eight on the First Draw
When you start out playing triple draw lowball, you are usually going to stay pat if you make an eight at any point. Once your reading ability improves, however, you will be able to break an eight and draw to the seven under the right circumstances. An 8-7 can be broken, but if you make an 8-6 or better, you’re better off staying pat. Being in position will also play into your decision of whether or not to break an eight. How so?
If you are holding 2-3-6-7-8 and an opponent in front of you stands pat after the first draw, you have to ask yourself, “What can I beat?” Would your opponent stay pat with a nine here? Or could he possibly have a worse 8-7?
In this case, with an opponent standing pat in front of you, you will usually break the eight, since you have such a smooth draw to a seven (2-3-6-7). If no one yet has stood pat, you should stay pat until further notice.
Playing After the Second Draw
When To Check
After the second draw, you should always check to an opponent that is one card ahead of you. For example, if you are drawing two and your opponent is drawing one, you can even check in the dark. Or if you are drawing one and your opponent is pat, again you can check in the dark. In these situations, you won’t be risking a free card because your opponent will surely bet. If your opponent doesn’t make this normally automatic bet, then he will often give you a free card.
If after the first draw, both you and your opponent draw one and you fail to improve to a pat hand, you should probably check, especially when out of position and most of the time when in position. Even if you feel like you have the best draw going into the last card, it is usually only a slight advantage, so it’s probably best to avoid the possible check-raise.
When To Bet
You should always bet if you are a card ahead, regardless of your position. If you have a one-card draw versus an opponent with a two-card draw, you should bet whether you improve or not. If you are pat and they are drawing, again you should bet automatically. You simply can’t give away free cards with just one draw left. If there is any chance you can win the pot here, you have to take it. If your opponent with the two-card draw doesn’t get help, he might fold even though you are still drawing as well.
If both you and your opponents draw one going into the last draw, you should bet with any hand that you are going to stay pat with. If you make 9-7-6-4-2, you should bet and stay pat if no one raises you. With just one draw left, the nine is a favorite over any draw.
To avoid becoming too predictable, you might want to bet your premium draws in position with or without improvement. For example, you have 2-3-4-7-7 and have already discarded a 3 and a 4. Your lone opponent checks to you. In this situation, your hand is a big enough favorite over your opponent’s draw that it’s worth a value bet.
If you had this hand out of position however, you should still check despite the powerful draw you have. Your opponent isn’t going to fold here; he’ll either raise or call. If he does raise, you’ve now lost an extra bet and are probably an underdog to win the pot. This is an important concept to understand. When out of position, you need to think about minimizing your losses by avoiding marginal value bets. They have value when your opponent happens to miss, but when your opponent completes his draw, you give up way too much equity when he raises you.
In position, you should also bet some of your premium one-card draws for another reason. If your opponent is perceptive, he will know that you don’t have a pat hand when you check behind him going into the last draw. If he has a hand like
2-3-4-8-10, he might decide to stay pat knowing that your hand is not complete. However, had you bet your draw, he would have a really tough time staying pat with a ten.
If you don’t have a pat hand, you want your opponent to break the ten. The ten is a favorite over even 2-3-4-7-7. If you can get him to break the ten with a bet, your 2-3-4-7 will become the favorite over his draw to the 2-3-4-8.
When To Call
When drawing one to a wheel or any seven, you should always call one bet going into the last draw. In fact, sometimes you may even raise with a draw like this, but we’ll get to that later. Let’s cover situations where you would simply call.
If both you and your opponent draw one going into the last draw and you don’t improve but he bets, you should usually just call. Your opponent’s bet should tell you that he has a pat hand, so unless you have reason to believe he’d fold or break his hand to a raise, you should just call and try to outdraw him.
Also, if you draw two and improve to a one-card draw, and your opponent draws one going into the second draw, you should just call. If you get really lucky and make a pat hand, then you might consider raising.
There is one more interesting situation where calling might be better than raising. Suppose your opponent draws one and you, though still drawing two, have position on him. You find yourself with a hand like 2-4-6-7-8. Should you raise or just call?
Let’s think about what may happen if you just call. If you call, your opponent will assume that you are still drawing at least one, if not two. If he makes a hand like 10-7-4-3-2 he will probably stay pat ahead of you. After all, a pat ten is a favorite over any draw. Now, if you smooth call, you’ve just ensured yourself the pot. Since there are no draws left, you are protecting what’s in the middle. In a sense, you’re tricking your opponent into thinking he has the best hand because you didn’t raise.
So what would have happened if you raised? Well, you’d certainly be taking the best of it, as your pat eight is a favorite over his wheel draw. The problem is, you don’t want your opponent to be drawing live at all! If you raise and force your opponent to break the ten, he’ll now be drawing live to a five, six, or even an eight. Why risk the whole pot to get in one extra bet in on the turn? You might even be able to win that bet on the river when the pot is secured. This play is a valuable weapon that has to be added to your arsenal if you want to be a winning triple draw player.
Finally—and this should go without saying—you should just call when you are a card behind. If you improve from a two-card draw to a one-card draw, but your opponent was already on a one-card draw, you should simply be a caller. If you are up against a player who was already pat and you are on a one-card draw, you should usually just call unless you have reason to believe he has a weak hand, in which case you may choose to raise. There is more on that in the next section.
When To Raise
The most obvious reason to raise is that you have the best hand. For the most part, with a seven, 8-5, or even 8-6, you should raise since you probably do have the best hand.
In a multiway pot, it’s even more important to raise with one of these pat hands in order to put pressure on those opponents trying to outdraw you. They surely will call one bet drawing to a wheel or a good eight, but for two bets you may be able to get them to lay it down, depending, of course, on the players.
Even when heads-up, you should raise with a seven or an 8-5, then follow through with a bet on the river. Hands ranked one through five are difficult to outdraw. Your opponent can’t possibly have too many outs if he is still drawing. Even if your opponent is drawing to a 2-3-4-7 against your 2-3-4-5-8, he can only win the pot with a 6 or one of three remaining fives—a total of seven outs. If your opponent has a pat eight, chances are he won’t break it, thinking you might be making a play at the pot.
Making a Play at the Pot
What do I mean by making a play at the pot? Sometimes if you have an excellent draw, you might be better off spending an extra bet, hoping to force your opponent to break a pat hand, rather than just calling in the hopes of outdrawing him. For example, say you are on the button with 2-2-3-7-7. Your opponent raises before the first draw, and you reraise him.
Now your opponent draws one and you, of course, draw two. Your two new cards are a 4 and another 2, giving you a wheel draw, 2-3-4-7. Next, your opponent bets. Because of your position, your strong draw, and the valuable discards you’ve mucked, you decide to raise it. Your opponent calls and decides to stay pat.
Right there you can assume that your opponent doesn’t have a very strong hand. If he did, he probably would have reraised once more. Also, since you have seen three deuces and two sevens, it’s a lot more likely that your opponent has a hand like 3-4-5-6-8 or even 3-4-5-8-9.
On the second draw, your opponent is pat and you draw one to the wheel. This time, you catch another 7! Unless your opponent has both the case 2 and the case 7, he doesn’t have a pat seven. Your opponent bets. What should you do?
It all depends on your read of your opponent. You have a pretty good idea as to the strength of his hand, most likely an eight or a nine. Will your opponent fold? Will your opponent come off of a nine and draw? If you think there is a reasonable chance that the answer to either question is yes, then go ahead and raise.
By investing one more bet, you may either win the pot right there or go from an underdog to a sizeable favorite. If it doesn’t work out, it adds more deception to your game at little cost, deception that you can exploit later. After all, you have one more draw and could still make your hand.
In order for a play like this to work, you have to know your opponent. If you know him to be stubborn enough not to break or fold, save your money. However, if he is a thinking player, he’ll ask himself, “What can I beat?” Since you played the hand so aggressively before and after the first draw, a thinking player would know that you have a strong draw. If he is looking down at 3-4-6-8-9, what could he possibly break and draw to? He has to simply hope and pray that you are making a play and that you will miss on the last draw. Based on all of this, a thinking player may decide it’s not worth seeing the hand through and fold. Remember, though, do not try this play against a calling station. Trying to bluff a bad player will make you the fool.
Check-Raising
There are times when you’ll be able to get in a check-raise after the second draw. Often, this happens when you are one card behind going into the draw, either drawing two to your opponent’s one or drawing one while your opponent stays pat. Anytime you make your hand in this situation, you should be able to check-raise. After all, if your opponent is playing properly, he’ll bet to keep from giving away a free draw.
Your check and your opponent’s bet here should be automatic. You could even check in the dark, and your opponent would probably bet in the dark, but I wouldn’t recommend doing this if there are novices in the game. While it’s obvious to you and the other experienced players that these bets are automatic, a novice may not grasp it. So if there are rookies at the table, at least pretend to look before you check.
If you happen to make a good eight or a seven, check-raising is probably a good idea. These hands might already be dead, but there is an excellent chance that your opponent is still drawing. Playing a rough eight or a rough nine is a lot more difficult, and check-raising with either one is risky. If you’re out of position, you might lose a lot of bets with a rough hand. And as you already know by now, you should try to avoid losing the maximum with rough hands, especially out of position. So with these hands, you generally will have to make a decision between checking and calling, then staying pat; or checking and calling, then drawing.
In order to make good decisions here, you have to pay attention to tells, as they are extremely valuable in this situation. Watch your opponent closely. Is he shuffling his cards, looking for the one he’s planning to discard? Or does the way he is holding his hand look like he is staying pat? This isn’t easy, but the best players read these situations very well.
If you aren’t able to pick up any tells at all, I would advise staying pat with a nine or better and hope your opponent draws. If your opponent raps pat behind you, you are in deep trouble. If he bets the river, you should probably fold—unless you have reason to believe he would bluff here.
Now, don’t get me wrong—in this situation, you can check-raise with any eight or nine. It’s not a terrible play at all. In fact, by doing so, you’ll definitely get a better idea as to whether or not you should call a river bet. For example, if you check-raise with a rough nine and the player behind you calls and raps pat as well, your hand is no good. Plain and simple. You can safely fold to a river bet. If he draws, then great! Now you’ll just have to hope he misses.
When you’re holding rough eights and nines, check-raising and check-calling are both viable options, and both should be used from time to time. There is value in either play. Check-calling allows you to minimize your losses, while check-raising may even force your opponent off a better hand! For example, if you check-raised and stood pat with a 2-3-4-8-9, your opponent may decide to break a hand like 2-3-6-7-9, which has you beat. That would be fantastic, regardless of the final outcome.
As you’ve probably noticed, there is more play on the second draw than any other street. Similar to the turn in hold’em, play on the second draw separates the great players from the rest of the pack. How strong a triple draw lowball player you become depends a lot on how well you’re able to master the art of playing the second draw.
When To Fold
There are several situations where you should fold, even with one draw remaining. If you are still drawing two with only one draw remaining, you should usually fold to a bet, especially out of position. The only time you should consider drawing two going into the last draw is when you have position, you think your opponent is still drawing, there is a lot of money in the pot, and you have made valuable discards. Otherwise, it’s just too difficult to make a hand drawing two with just one draw left. Even 2-3-4 is an underdog to beat K-Q-J-10-8! Amazing, but true.
Here’s another situation where you should consider folding: say you are up against a pat hand drawing to a rough eight. If your opponent stays pat after the first draw and you are holding 2-6-7-8, for example, two things need to happen for you to win the pot:
(1) You would need to make your hand.
(2) You would need to be drawing live.
Since your opponent stayed pat after just the first draw, chances are he has at least an eight made, so you will be drawing dead here too often to make calling correct.
You should also consider folding when you make either a rough eight or nine and get raised after the second draw. The only way your hand could be playable is if your opponent is making a bluff-raise and is still drawing. For example, you make a 2-3-7-8-9 and bet against one lone opponent who raises you. You could stay pat and hope he is bluffing; you could draw one and hope that an 8-7 will be good enough to win; or you could take the safe route and simply muck your hand. Which course of action is the best depends on your read of your opponent.
Finally, you should fold when facing two bets going into the last draw, even when drawing to the nuts. This bit of advice may come as a shock to some, so let’s look at the reasoning behind it. With one draw left, you have 2-4-5-7 on the button. In front of you, it’s bet and raised. Fold. You know that a 6 will give you number four—a strong hand, but one that still might not be good enough considering the action in front of you. This leaves you needing a 3 to give you the nuts. Considering that you are facing two players who obviously have five low cards apiece, what are the chances that all four threes are still live? Not very good. In addition, there’s always the chance that the first bettor will reraise once more. All of a sudden, your monster wheel draw doesn’t look so hot now, does it?
When To Stay Pat
We know for sure that a pat jack is a small favorite over any draw. Even a hand like J-10-9-8-6 against 2-3-4-7 with one draw left is a 55 percent favorite. From this, can you assume that you should always stay pat with a jack or better with one draw left? Not quite.
Heads-up. If you are heads-up with position and know that your opponent is drawing, then, yes, you could consider staying pat, even with 2-3-4-7-J. However, if you are out of position and don’t have the luxury of knowing whether or not your opponent is drawing or staying pat, that changes things dramatically. In this case, you should always draw.
Even after your opponent draws one card, you should probably draw one as well when you figure you’re drawing better. That’s because you have almost as big an advantage in the one-card versus one-card match-up as you do standing pat—assuming you just showed down the results without betting. In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to gain ground through the final betting, considering your superior draw and the fact that you’ll act last.
The opportunity to make more money outweighs your slightly diminished chances of ending up with the better hand. So it’s usually correct to draw a card. In doing so, you’ll also rule out the possibility of being bluffed out by an inspired opponent. Again, it’s interesting to note that in a showdown situation, where there can be no future betting, the jack is the favorite over any draw, and it’s correct to stand pat with such a hand.
As you see, this is what makes position so important in triple draw. With position in a showdown situation, you would know for certain that the correct play is to stand pat behind an opponent who drew one, hoping he missed.
Multiway Pots. What happens when you add a third player to the mix? How does that change things? Let’s look at an extreme example:
YOU (20%)
PLAYER A (40%)
PLAYER B (40%)
In this case, both player A and Player B would win the pot approximately 40 percent of the time, meaning that your pat jack will win just 20 percent of the time. Not good. Let’s look at a more typical example:
YOU (33%)
PLAYER A (37%)
PLAYER B (30%)
While that’s not too bad—the jack will win its fair share of pots—let’s look at what happens when we draw:
YOU (38%)
PLAYER A (35%)
PLAYER B (27%)
As you can see, you’d do much better by drawing. So what hand becomes a favorite over two other people drawing? The answer is a nine:
YOU (42%)
PLAYER A (29%)
PLAYER B (29%)
Again, as in the previous examples, position is paramount. If you know both of your opponents are drawing, it makes staying pat an easy decision. However, if you are out of position and unsure whether your opponents will draw, it makes things much more difficult. That’s why it’s important to bet if you make your hand out of position. That way, if no one raises you, chances are your nine is the best hand and you can safely stay pat. While you might get the same information by checking, you’d also be giving your opponents a free ride against you.
When To Break
This is where the game becomes a little trickier because the correct decision is heavily dependent on your read. As you gain more experience with the game, it should become easier.
If you are a beginning player, I would advise you not to out-think yourself. Basically, you should stay pat anytime you make an eight or better. As your reading skills improve, there will be times when you’ll want to break an eight and go for the wheel.
But keep in mind that 8-6 or an 8-5 should never be broken. If you hold one of these hands and are reasonably sure that the hand is no good, you’re better off folding rather than breaking. Only a 7 could help you, and if you think the eight is no good, that leaves only three remaining sevens for you to catch. If you do lose with an 8-6 or an 8-5, there probably wasn’t much you could have done about it. Tough beats happen often in this game; you’ve got to keep your cool.
Now an 8-7 is a different story. With the 8-6 or the 8-5, most hands that have you beat already are extremely difficult to outdraw. Breaking an 8-7, however, gives you a decent chance to outdraw several hands that have you beat, such as any rough 7, 8-5, 8-6, or better 8-7. For example, let’s say you have an
8-7-6-3-2 with one draw left, and based on the betting, you think your opponent has a better hand. Unless your opponent is bluffing, if he raises you going into the last draw, he probably has a better hand.
By drawing to the 2-3-6-7, you have as many as eight possible outs to beat any eight (any 4 or 5). As I said earlier, this is a difficult decision to make, and you have to be pretty certain before you make it. Breaking an eight when it is already the best hand is a statistical nightmare! If your opponent bet at you with a nine or bluffed you and is still drawing, how nice it would be to have that eight back! That’s why I suggest that beginning players play it straightforward and just take their lumps when they get beat with an eight.
Summary
After the second draw you learned that you should always check when you are a card behind, or when you are out of position drawing an equal number of cards as your opponent and you don’t improve. You also learned that you should always bet when you are a card ahead—as when you are drawing one and your opponent is drawing two. You should also bet when you improve your hand and your draw was equal, regardless of your position.
You should call when you think you are drawing live. You should also consider sometimes calling when you have position and plan on staying pat, hoping to trap your opponent into staying pat ahead of you with a weaker hand.
You should raise when you have a strong hand and want to get more money in the pot. You should also raise to knock others out of the pot when you plan on staying pat with a vulnerable hand. In perfect situations, you should occasionally raise with some of your strong one-card draws, hoping to either make your opponent fold or break a made hand.
You should fold when you are still drawing two, and also when you think you may be drawing dead. You should also consider folding some of your rougher pat hands if you are raised.
Heads-up with position, you should stand pat with a ten or better if your opponent is still drawing, and even with a jack if it’s a showdown situation with no more betting possible. In a three-handed pot, you should always stay pat with a nine or better if your opponents are still drawing.
You learned that breaking an 8-6 or 8-5 is a no-no. However, if you have an 8-7 and are reasonably certain that your opponent has you beat, you may consider breaking. If you are a novice player though, I recommend staying pat with any eight to avoid being outplayed by more sophisticated players.
Play on the River
Generally speaking, the river is no time to get fancy. The pots are usually so big by the river that bluffing becomes difficult. Most successful bluffs in deuce-to-seven triple draw start well before the river.
When Both You and Your Opponent Are Drawing One
In this situation, you rarely should bluff. Since the pots become so large, your opponent will likely call you with as little as a king. However, there are certain situations where a bluff could be profitable. You would have to have:
(1) The right table image; and
(2) The right opponent, one who makes laydowns.
Bluffing with an ace, king, or queen is just silly. You’ll get called virtually every time your opponent has you beat, and you will “bluff” your opponent when he makes a pair that you can beat anyway.
I suggest that you only bluff when you make a big pair and have virtually no chance to win in a showdown. Even a pair of deuces can win in the showdown when your opponent also pairs. I suggest bluffing with pairs four and higher, and even then I would only advise you to do so every now and then. It will only work if your opponent makes a pair smaller than yours. Even then, I have seen people call bets on the river with pairs as high as 6-6!
The river is the time for value betting and not for bluffing. With so many bets in the pot, all you have to do is catch an occasional bluff to make calling correct. You should always call a bet with a jack or better and call most of the time with a queen through a pair of deuces.
You should also value bet hands as bad as a jack. As you learned previously, a jack is a favorite over any one-card draw, so you should bet it when you make one, regardless of your position. Since your opponent will likely call you if he makes a queen, king, or ace, or even a small pair, there is value in betting the jack.
The only drawback comes when you get raised. In that case, you would have to go with your read. More often than not, your opponent won’t raise you with a 9, 10, or a jack, but he might do it with an 8 and certainly will with a 7.
When Your Opponent Is Pat and You
Are Drawing Out of Position
If your opponent is pat and you are drawing one out of position to 2-3-5-7, what should you do if you catch 4, 6, 8 or even a 9? As is true with most poker situations, it all depends. All four of those hands can likely beat your opponent if he stayed pat going into the last draw, but you might not always want to bet them.
Against the right opponent, you might want to go for a check-raise with the seven or the eight. It depends on how aggressive your opponent is and whether or not he would bet a nine or a ten on the river once you’ve checked.
The safer play is to simply bet right out, hoping to be called by a worse hand and not raised by a better hand. After all, your opponent could have anything from a seven all the way up to a jack.
This is another situation where a bluff might work. What if you paired sevens? An opponent might fold jack, ten, or even a nine in this spot. After all, he knows that you know he has a pat hand, yet you are still betting into him. Normally that means you must have made your hand and are looking to get paid off. A good player might decide to save the last bet, giving you the opportunity to steal a nice-sized pot.
It’s important to understand that this play won’t work as well if your opponent stayed pat on or before the first draw. If your opponent does that, it usually signifies a good nine, an eight, or a seven. Your bluff probably won’t work if he has any of these hands.
When Your Opponent Is Pat and You Are Drawing in Position
Being in position gives you more information about your opponent’s hand. If he checks the river, it’s less likely that he made a seven, eight, or nine, and more likely that he made a ten, a jack, or worse. Again, that is assuming that your opponent only rapped pat on the last draw. If he rapped pat earlier in the hand, he probably has an eight or better, or possibly a nine.
If your opponent bets the river, you should not raise unless you have a premium hand. An 8-6 is right on the borderline. Against more aggressive opponents, you can raise with an 8-6, but against a more conservative opponent you should give him more credit and just call.
If your opponent checks the river, you should value bet any eight or better, and sometimes bet your better nines. Your opponent’s check doesn’t necessarily mean he has a bad hand, especially if he stood pat earlier. He might be looking to check-raise or collect bullets, hoping you bluff off your money. It’s customary for a player to check an eight in this spot and simply look to call if you bet. It’s also customary for a player to check a seven to you, looking for the double bet, assuming you can’t call if you miss anyway.
You want to bet an eight or better for value every time against a player who stayed pat after the second draw, but check your rougher eights against a player who stayed pat early in the hand. A hand like 2-5-6-7-8 isn’t worth betting against a player who stayed pat early, but is a must-bet against a player who stayed pat on the last draw.
When Your Opponent is Drawing and You Are Pat Out of Position
In this situation you should check any nine, ten, or jack. If you had a rough eight before or after the first draw, you may consider checking as well. You opponent is probably drawing to beat you, and it may cost you two bets if he does. However, when your opponent misses, you will rarely get a crying call in that spot.
It is not a bad idea to check a wheel on occasion as well, looking for the double bet on the river. Your check might induce your opponent to bet an eight, at which time you can go for the check-raise with a seven. But most of the time, it is much safer to just bet right out and lock up one value bet if you can get it. Who knows, you may even be able to get in three bets on the river if your opponent raises you!
You should also bet with an eight if you stayed pat after the second draw. Your opponent might call you with a weak hand hoping to pick off a bluff, or he may make a nine and think it has a decent chance to be the best hand.
If you decide to check your pat hand on the river, be prepared to call a bet. Again, there is too much money in the pot, so it’s no time to get cute. Unless you have an excellent read on your opponent’s tendencies, you should be prepared to pay off one bet here.
When Your Opponent Is Drawing and You Are Pat in Position
By this point, the pot is so big that you should be hoping your opponent misses, giving you what’s already in the middle. If you stayed pat after the first draw with an 8-7-6-4-2, you should check if your opponent checks ahead of you. Chances are, your opponent was drawing to beat such a rough eight, so if he makes an eight or better, he will either check and call, or even check-raise! The problem with betting such a rough eight in this spot is that a worse hand will rarely call you. Don’t trap yourself by automatically betting here.
If you had made an eight on the second draw, you could make a case for betting it. Your opponent might call you with a nine or even a ten, trying to pick off a bluff. Again, you have to be up against a predictable opponent, one who doesn’t check-raise the river and is a calling station. A calling station may even call you with a jack, just in case.
If your opponent bets into you on the river after you stayed pat, chances are he made his hand and you’ve been beat. By this time there are often so many bets in the pot that you better be pretty certain your opponents aren’t going to bluff before folding.
Raising on the River
As a rule, you should never lose five bets on the river. If you are putting in five bets on the river, you better have precisely 2-3-4-5-7. While 2-3-4-6-7, number two, is a strong hand, if you put in five bets on the river with this hand, you’ll lose.
Let’s look at an example: You make a 2-3-4-6-7 after the first draw, but on the last draw your opponent bets into you. Of course you would raise here, but what should you do if your opponent reraises you? What could he possibly have to reraise you with? Most players would never reraise with an eight, so your opponent most likely has a seven. Knowledgeable players won’t even raise with number four (2-4-5-6-7), so that leaves 2-3-4-5-7, 2-3-4-6-7, or 2-3-5-6-7.
You can beat one of these hands, tie another, and lose to another. The fact that you were reraised to three bets makes it even more likely that you are up against a wheel or number two. If you decide to make it four bets with your number two, you will probably win an extra bet against the number three, but you will lose two bets to the wheel. The best play here is just to call.
In general, you should only raise the river with a strong eight or a seven. Any other hand might be worth a bet or a call, but if you are raising, you better have the goods!
The Value of Pairs
While pairing your cards seemingly doesn’t help you at all, the fact that you may have blockers against your opponent’s draw increases the chances that you’ll win the pot. Let’s look at an example. Suppose with one draw left:
YOU (46%)
YOUR OPPONENT (54%)
Notice that the 2-3-4-7 is a significant favorite here. Now let’s suppose that along the way you pair fives, sixes, and eights. What would that do to your chances?
YOU (52%)
YOUR OPPONENT (48%)
DEAD CARDS
Amazing. Even though your opponent appears to have the better draw, the fact that you’ve already burned three of the cards he would need makes your chances of winning the pot go from 46 percent all the way up to a 52 percent favorite!
Knowing that, you should understand why a hand like 2-2-3-3-7 is so much better than a hand like 2-3-7-K-K. It would essentially be the same draw (2-3-7), but your chances of winning the pot with the first draw will be much better than with the second draw.
So how do we use this information to our advantage? There are several ways:
(1) You are in position drawing two going into the last draw against a lone opponent who drew one. Your draw is 2-3-4, and you’ve already discarded a 2, two threes, and a 4. At this point you don’t know for certain if your opponent is already pat, but because of your powerful discards, you can assume that it will be tougher for your opponent to make a hand. Even if your opponent has 2-5-6-7 and is drawing one, you should still draw two based on the pot odds you are being laid. With the dead cards you burned, the 2-5-6-7 would only be a 57 percent favorite against your two-card draw.
(2) You can stay pat with a weaker hand. If you paired several cards, you can assume that some of the cards your opponent needs are now dead. That will make it more difficult for him to make his hand. In situations where you would normally break a pat nine or even discard an eight to draw to a wheel, making valuable discards should influence your decision. You might want to keep a hand you would otherwise fold, such as a pat nine or a one-card draw to a rough eight-seven.
(3) Snowing is a bluffing term that refers to staying pat before the last draw despite having a garbage hand. Let’s look at an extreme example: Let’s say you were dealt 2-2-2-2-3. Here you would have two options other than folding. You could draw three to the 2-3 or 2, or bluff the hand through. Since you have all of the powerful deuces, you know that your opponents could not possibly make a seven and would be hard pressed to make an eight. See below for a more in-depth look at this technique.
How To Snow
Snowing is something that you should do sporadically. If you do it too often it will lose its effectiveness, but not doing it at all will make you too predictable. If you get caught snowing again and again, you will get a few loose calls here and there, but that will also make this bluffing weapon useless to you. On the other hand, if you never snow, you won’t get paid off like you should, and you will be giving up opportunities to steal some big pots. In order to pull it off, you need to have earned respect from your opponents without becoming predictable. As a general rule, snowing only when you have three deuces, three sevens, and so on would establish a decent snowing frequency.
There are several ways to snow, and I could go on and on about all of them. But if you have a good understanding of the ones I describe below, you’ll do fine. As we learned in the last section, the information you receive from paired cards should heavily influence your decision of whether or not to snow. Generally speaking, snowing is more effective if you’ve stayed pat on the first or second draw. Staying pat so early in a hand represents strength. Finally, and as is the case with most poker strategies, this one works best when played in position.
So with the 2-2-2-2-3, you could raise it up and stay pat right off the bat. If you get any callers, you would be forced to bet the hand the whole way through and hope that your opponent doesn’t make a hand he is willing to call you with.
Many times, when you stay pat right off the bat, alarm bells go off in your opponents’ heads. They may suspect a snow and call you on the river to find out. To avoid this, you can draw one to your 2-2-2-2-3, and stay pat after the first draw. This approach is generally more believable and looks less suspicious.
If somewhere along the way, someone stays pat as well, it’s time to abort the mission. You should fold to a bet or, naturally, draw if it’s not bet to you.
I played in a game that illustrates a great way to send your opponents on tilt. In a $1,500/$3,000 game with Gus Hansen, I tried snowing a hand with 2-2-2-7-Q. Unfortunately, going into the last draw Gus stayed pat in front of me. It looked like the jig was up. Slightly embarrassed, I drew three cards. Gus bet right out, and I looked down at a 3-4-5. So obviously, I raised it! I caught not one, not two, but three perfect cards. Needless to say Gus didn’t find the hand all that funny.
The point of the story is simple: When you get caught, abort the mission. Don’t continue through with the bluff if someone else has stood pat as well.
There is another, more sophisticated snow play that often works: Say both you and your opponent are drawing one going into the last draw. Your opponent checks, and you make 3-3-4-5-7. Since your opponent checked, it’s likely that he is still drawing. If you bet and stay pat, your opponent will have to assume you hit your hand. If your opponent misses on the river, you would continue with the bluff and hope that your opponent mucks. If he makes a jack, queen, king, ace, or a pair, he’ll almost always fold.
There is one last snow play I’d like to share with you. Going into the last draw your opponent is drawing one and you draw two in position to a 2-3-7. Your opponent, being ahead one card, bets—as he should. Then you catch 2-2! If you call and draw, you would be an underdog to any hand, so what about raising and staying pat? If your opponent calls and draws one again, you can stay pat with your trip deuces and bet if your opponent misses. Now if your opponent stays pat anyway, then you’ll have to abort the mission and try to get really lucky drawing two.
ACE-TO-FIVE TRIPLE DRAW
In essence, deuce-to-seven and ace-to-five triple draw are the same game with different hand ranking systems. The same rules apply, and the betting structure is the same.
The major difference is this: In deuce-to-seven, the best possible hand is 2-3-4-5-7; while in ace-to-five, the best hand is A-2-3-4-5. Aces count as low (ones) in ace-to-five, and neither straights nor flushes count against you.
While these games are extremely similar, the correct strategies to use differ slightly for each. For example, snowing isn’t as effective in ace-to-five as it is in deuce-to-seven. And although the ace is the most important card in ace-to-five, it isn’t nearly as valuable as the deuce is in deuce-to-seven. Since straights and flushes don’t count against you, it’s much easier to make a strong hand, so bluffing is less profitable.
I’m not going to spend too much time on ace-to-five, as you should already have a good understanding of the concepts of triple draw from the deuce-to-seven section. However, I will give you some starting hand guidelines and go over some of the finer points of the game.
Pat Hands
Here’s one big difference between the two games: in ace-to-five, a pat eight is a weak hand. If you are dealt 8-6-3-2-A, you would do better discarding the 8 and trying to make a good six. You would have three chances to improve and twelve cards to improve with, specifically fours, fives, and sevens. That makes you a favorite to improve on the eight. While eights will often win in deuce-to-seven, you’d have to consider yourself pretty lucky to win with an eight in ace-to-five.
A pat seven or better should be kept. You should play these hands aggressively, forcing your opponents to pay full price to outdraw you.
One-Card Draws
Below are all the strong one-card draws you should be playing, from strongest to weakest.
A-2-3-4
A-2-3-5
A-2-4-5
A-3-4-5
2-3-4-5
A-2-3-6
A-2-4-6
A-3-4-6
A-2-5-6
A-3-5-6
A-4-5-6
2-3-4-6
2-3-5-6
Notice there is no one-card draw to a seven. Drawing to a seven on the first draw is asking for trouble. A seven will win its fair share of pots, but often you will make a second best hand and lose a lot of bets. With a hand like A-2-3-7-K, you are better off drawing two to the A-2-3 than one to the A-2-3-seven.
Two-Card Draws
Here are the best two-card draws, from strongest to weakest, that can be played for any number of bets before the first draw.
A-2-3
A-2-4
A-3-4
2-3-4
In ace-to-five, it’s extremely important to draw from the bottom up. While both A-2-3 and 3-4-5 offer you a two card wheel draw, if you miss the wheel and make a six or worse, it will often come down to the third, fourth, or even fifth card. If the A-2-3 and 3-4-5 both catch a 6 on the first draw, the A-2-3 draw would be way in front. In fact, a 4 or a 5 would shut out the other draw completely.
The hands above are the strongest two-card draws containing no 5 or 6, but they’re not the only two-card draws you can play. The following hands, listed from strongest to weakest, are often good enough to raise with, but not necessarily good enough to come in cold for a double raise, if you’re outside the blinds.
A-2-5
2-3-5
A-4-5
2-4-5
3-4-5
A-2-6
A-3-6
2-3-6
A-4-6
2-4-6
3-4-6
A-5-6
2-5-6
Depending on your skill level, you should consider folding the bottom half of this list to a raise. As your skills improve, you could think about expanding your list of starting hands to include 3-5-6, and maybe even 4-5-6 in steal position—although I still don’t advise that play.
Three-Card Draws
The only time you should draw three is from the big blind, from the small blind for no raise, or on the button in an attempt to steal the blinds. The only three-card draws you should be willing to play are: A-2; A-3; and 2-3.
Flop and Turn Play
The flop and turn play advice I offered you in the deuce-to-seven section applies to the ace-to-five game as well, with the only adjustment being that you should make less plays in ace-to-five because there are less pure bluffing opportunities. Stick to a solid game plan and solid starting hands and you’ll do just fine.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I’m a big fan of ace-to-five triple draw, especially when it is played in a mixed game that includes deuce-to-seven triple draw. People will often get confused and play the wrong game. Don’t be that guy! If you are playing in a mixed game with both versions of triple draw, make sure you are alert and always know which game you are playing.
Often times, those players who are more accustomed to the deuce-to-seven version of triple draw really don’t understand the hand strengths in ace-to-five. I’ve played in high-limit ace-to-five games with some fantastic players who stayed pat after the first draw with an A-3-4-6-9! In those same high-limit games, I often hear someone call out “six-four,” only to find out later that they were playing deuce-to-seven!
If you plan on playing high limit poker, learning to play this game is an absolute must. The pots are bigger, and the fluctuations can be monstrous. Adding triple draw to the mix of games makes all of the games livelier, and since it causes such huge swings, it preys on the emotionally weak. Watch someone miss a couple of draws to the A-2-3-4, and you may soon see steam coming out of their ears! Before you know it, they are chasing that money in other games as well.
If you’re going to play triple draw, be ready for an emotional roller coaster. So be strong, be smart, and be sure to buckle up!
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Draw Poker
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