2-7 Triple Draw - long an under-appreciated gem among poker variations - is finally
seeing its moment in the sun. ⚾️ A lot of poker's nosebleed action has found itself at the
2-7 Triple Draw tables lately and poker's stars are ⚾️ diving in full force -- be it Gus
Hansen, Phil Galfond, Phil Ivey, Viktor Blom, Niklas Heinecker or Sebastian Ruthenberg.
⚾️ Since the game is on the lips of everyone in the poker scene these days it's a good
time to ⚾️ learn the basic rules of 2-7 Triple Draw and pick up a couple of useful 2-7
poker strategy hints.
Read on ⚾️ for a closer look at all the essential rules of 2-7
Triple Draw Lowball poker from the betting structure to ⚾️ how a round of 2-7 Triple Draw
progresses. Start with our handy 2-7 instructional video below!
Watch 2-7 Triple Draw
How ⚾️ to Play Video
What is 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball?
2-7 Triple Draw Lowball is a 5 hole
card draw poker variant with ⚾️ a lowball hand ranking. In 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
(sometimes known as Kansas City Lowball), the goal is to make ⚾️ the worst conventional
poker hands. That's right - you're looking for the lowest five-card hand possible, not
the highest.
The lowest ⚾️ hand (the best) possible in 2-7 Triple Lowball is:
7-5-4-3-2
(Unsuited)
2-7 Triple Draw Poker Rules
2-7 Triple Draw poker is usually played ⚾️ as a
fixed-limit game (just like Limit Hold’em) so there's a small and a big bet. These are
twice the ⚾️ blinds and denote the name of the game.
That means in a 50c/$1 game the
blinds are 25c/50c. Bets are then ⚾️ 50c in the first two betting rounds andR$1 in the
second two betting rounds.
How to Bet in 2-7 Lowball Poker
2-7 ⚾️ Lowball is a "blind
game," meaning the player to the left of the dealer puts in the small blind and ⚾️ the
player to the left of the small blind puts in the big blind.
Starting with the player
on the left ⚾️ of the dealer and moving clockwise around the table, every player is dealt
five cards facedown, one card at a ⚾️ time. Once all players have five cards, the first
betting round starts with the player to the left of the ⚾️ big blind.
Once the betting
round has completed, the players enter the first drawing round. Starting with the
player on the ⚾️ dealer's left, the player announces how many cards he would like to throw
away from his hand and receives new ⚾️ ones in return.
The dealer deals all of the cards
to that player at once before moving on to the next ⚾️ player. A player can choose to keep
his hand intact and not throw away any cards at all. This is ⚾️ known as standing pat or
rapping pat.
If a player chooses to discard all five cards, the dealer will only deal
⚾️ them four new cards at once. The fifth card will be dealt after all other players have
received their cards
If ⚾️ the player discarding all five cards is last to be dealt cards,
the dealer will deal them four cards at ⚾️ once, then "burn" one card (discarding it face
down on the table) before dealing hte player his fifth and final ⚾️ card.
Once all players
have received their new cards the second betting round begins, starting with the player
to the left ⚾️ of the dealer. This pattern repeats until either:
Only one player is left,
the rest having folded
The players have completed the ⚾️ betting round after the third
drawing round
2-7 Lowball Poker Rules for Showdown
Once all betting is complete the
best 2-7 Lowball ⚾️ hand wins the pot
Hands are counted from the highest card in the hand
down
The best possible 2-7 Lowball hand is ⚾️ 7-5-4-3-2 (with all five cards NOT of the
same suit)
(with all five cards of the same suit) Straights, flushes and ⚾️ pairs DO count
against you
Having a straight does not kill your hand but lessens the value. For
example any hand ⚾️ without a flush, straight or pair will beat any hand with a pair,
regardless of how low the cards are
The ⚾️ ace is used only as a high card
Because the ace
is a high card 5-4-3-2-A is not considered to be ⚾️ a straight but an A-5 high
5-4-3-2-A
is not considered to be a straight but an A-5 high Any two players ⚾️ holding the same
hand split the pot
Once the player with the winning hand has received the pot the
player who ⚾️ was to the left of the dealer becomes the new dealer for the next hand
More
2-7 Poker Rules and Hand ⚾️ Rankings
The two most common variations of lowball poker are
Triple Draw and Razz. Depending on the variation, in their spesific ⚾️ poker hand rankings
the lowest hand can be ranked in a few different ways.
Aces can be regarded as either
high ⚾️ or low and straights and flushes can either count or not. (Pairs always count
though.)
Ace-to-5 Low: The best hand possible ⚾️ is A-2-3-4-5 which is called a "wheel."
Aces are low and straights and flushes do not count. Games that use ⚾️ this ranking
include California Lowball (also called Ace-Five Lowball) and Razz, which is the low
version of Seven-Card Stud. This ⚾️ is also used in Omaha Hi-Lo.
Ace-to-6 Low: The best
possible hand is A-2-3-4-6. Aces are low and straights and flushes ⚾️ count. It is also
called "6-4 Low." This is used in London Lowball, which is a Seven-Card Stud
variation.
2-to-7 Low: ⚾️ As explained above the best hand possible on 2-7 is 2-3-4-5-7.
Aces are high and straights and flushes count. It ⚾️ is also called "7-5 low."
2-to-6 Low:
The best possible hand is 2-3-4-5-6. Aces are high and straights and flushes don't
⚾️ count. This form is very rarely used.
2-7 Triple Draw Lowball Strategy
As in all other
poker games two factors are essential ⚾️ for your 2-7 Triple Draw strategy:
Let’s start
out with position. Apart from the information we get from our opponent betting ⚾️ or not,
we get added information from the number of cards our opponent draws. This is only the
case in ⚾️ draw poker.
This second part of information can be extremely valuable. If your
opponent stops drawing (he “stands pat”), it usually ⚾️ means he has a made hand – unless,
of course, he’s bluffing.
If, on the other hand, he draws three cards ⚾️ he is far away
from a made hand.
To find his proper hand range is a lot more difficult. But your ⚾️ first
basic rule should be:
Never draw more than three cards - two, if possible.
These are
the top six starting hands ⚾️ in 2-7 Triple Draw:
1) 2-3-4-x-x
2) 2-3-7-x-x
3)
2-3-5-x-x
4) 2-4-5-x-x
5) 2-4-7-x-x
6) 2-5-7-x-x
Which brings us to the second basic
rule:
Good starting hands have ⚾️ a “2” in them
Hands with a “3” as the lowest card – like
3-4-7-x-x or 3-5-8-x-x – are playable to ⚾️ steal or defend the blinds.
Of course, the
number of players in the hand is also significant.
Here's your third rule:
Be careful
⚾️ with hands that contain a “6”
The problem with these hands is you can easily get in
trouble by building a ⚾️ straight. Look at a hand like 3-4-5-6-x.
At first glance this
looks like a pretty good hand but it's actually terrible ⚾️ as both the deuce – the lowest
card in a game of triple draw, as the aces are high – ⚾️ and the seven make a straight,
which would count against you.
Every straight with low cards must contain a six, which
⚾️ is why you should try to avoid this card.
Golden 2-7 Triple-Draw Strategy Rules
Apply
The last betting round in 2-7 Triple ⚾️ Draw differs significantly from NLHE and
PLO, mainly due to the structure of limit poker.
However, the 2-7 Triple Draw Golden
⚾️ Rule:
You should only bet if your opponent might be willing to call with a worse
hand
is valid here, too. Bluffs ⚾️ are rare, but not impossible.
No Simple Recipe for 2-7
Triple Draw Lowball
2-7 Triple Draw is a fascinating game characterized by ⚾️ a lot of
swings. Be aware of this before you begin. There is no simple recipe for 2-7 Triple
Draw ⚾️ as there is none for any poker game.
As a rule of thumb, we advise you to start as
a solid ⚾️ player. Play tight-aggressive and select your hands carefully. As a beginner,
get some experience on the lowest levels before you ⚾️ start moving up!
How to Play Limit
2-7 Triple Draw Poker
Limit 2-7 Triple Draw poker is a lot different from other ⚾️ poker
variants in several respects. Two of them are:
Let’s illustrate what this means in
practice:
In a 50c/$1 game Player A ⚾️ raises toR$1, the small blind folds and the big
blind calls. There's nowR$2.25 in the pot.
Players draw, the big blind ⚾️ checks and
Player A bets. Now the big blind raises toR$1 and Player A calls. There's nowR$4.25 in
the pot. ⚾️ Players draw again and now the big blind bets out.
Even before the third and
last draw Player A gets 5.25:1 ⚾️ pot odds – unthinkable in a No-Limit game. What this
means is that Player A can assess the strength of ⚾️ his hand pretty well and thus decide
if a call is correct.
Also the big blind has a lot less fold ⚾️ equity than in a No-Limit
game; in other words it's much harder to bluff. In practice, you should always bet ⚾️ with
your good hands. Any player drawing to beat you must pay the maximum. Different poker
variants like Limit 2-7 ⚾️ Triple Draw and 2-7 Single Draw, and countless others, are fun
to learn and easy to master with right instructions. ⚾️ On our How to Play Poker page you
find information and game guides for all poker games and more.
2-7 Poker ⚾️ Hands at
Showdown
The special appeal of 2-7 Triple Draw is contained in the relative value of
different hands. It happens ⚾️ very often that two or more players draw three times so
that in the end no player quite knows where ⚾️ he or she stands.
Of course if you hold the
nuts - 7-5-4-3-2 offsuit - you do. But then that doesn’t ⚾️ happen very often.
As a
general statement you can go with the rule:
An 8-high or 9-high hand heads-up is in
most ⚾️ cases good enough for a showdown.
Of course, a hand like 9-5-4-3-2 is a lot more
valuable than a hand like ⚾️ 9-8-7-5-3. On the hand-ranking list for 2-7 Triple Draw, the
first nine-high hand is number 19, while the second one ⚾️ is only in 48th position!
Did
we mention Isilidur1 plays 2-7?
Bluff catchers are ten- or jack-high hands – in case
your ⚾️ opponent has a hand like 8-7-4-2 and is drawing for a six, five, or three, he will
often end up ⚾️ with a high-card hand (queen, king, or ace high) or even a pair, which are
both very weak hands.
On the ⚾️ river – or after the third draw, in this case - you are
always faced with the question of betting ⚾️ one more time or not.
If you have a monster –
7-5-4-3-2, 7-6-4-3-2, 7-6-5-3-2, 7-6-5-4-2 – you should always bet. If ⚾️ not, this
well-known rule of thumb applies: Bet if a worse hand than yours can call you.
If this
is not ⚾️ the case, you should switch to check-call mode and hope that your opponent is
going to bluff.
2-7 Triple Draw Starting ⚾️ Hands Table
Upgrade your skills with the help
of 2-7 Triple Draw starting hands table. Here you can see what hands ⚾️ draw where:
