Triple-Draw Lowball: Part IV

You’ve seen common mistakes made by beginners in deuce-to-seven triple-draw lowball, the game often called simply triple-draw. Now, you need a strategy.

First Round
When you play, almost always come in for a raise. You will see plenty of players limp in with a weak draw, particularly three cards, and then get stuck playing for two bets with a hand they probably shouldn’t have been in for even one bet. You also will see them limp in with a good draw or even a good pat hand when they should be making the other players pay for the privilege of trying to outdraw them. The best reason to come in for a raise is that you will discover that the others will call with their weak hands whether you limp or whether you raise; clearly, when you have better hands than they have, you want them to put in more money.

In the first two positions to the left of the big blind, play any hand that is a two-card draw to 7-5 or 7-4, or better. Thus, you can play these hands: 7-5-2, 7-4-3, 6-5-4, 4-3-2, and so on. You should not play hands like 8-4-2, 7-6-5, and 7-6-2, although your opponents will play them. Play a one-card draw to any 7. That would include 7-6-5-4, but play that hand cautiously, because the only result you will like is catching a deuce. An 8 or 3 makes a straight, and a 9 is probably too rough* to be useful. Notice that hands like 8-7-4-2 and 8-6-5-4 fulfill the conditions at the beginning of this paragraph. How you draw depends on your position and the actions of the other players. If you pick up just the two blinds and they both draw three cards, you should draw one. If you get one or two blinds and players behind you, throw the 8 and draw two cards. Yes, it’s easier to make the one-card 8 than the two-card draw, but with two more draws to come and players likely drawing to good hands, you still want to be trying for better than an 8. With any of the preceding hands, if the under-the-gun player is in, either raise or reraise. Triple-draw is very much a game of position, and you would like to buy position if you can. It’s a lot harder for players behind you to come in with three-card draws and rough one- and two-card draws for three bets. Position in triple-draw is more than just how preceding players bet; it’s also seeing how many cards they draw. When you’re last to act, you can base your draw on the actions of those who precede you. When you’re first or in the middle, it’s a guessing game. Of course, if you have a completed 7, what the others do doesn’t matter. But if you have 9-7-6-4-2, your decision will be very different if the first two players have stood pat, compared to both having drawn two cards.

In the cutoff or on the button, you can add a few hands to your range. You can add two-card draws to 7-6 and one-card draws to good eights. If the pot is opened before it gets to you, particularly if raised, you should play only the hands listed in the preceding paragraph, and you should often put in the third bet if the pot has already been raised. If it’s three bets to you, you probably should play only one-card draws, good one-card draws. Similarly, if you have come in first — and you opened with a raise, right? — and it’s capped, ditch the two-card and rough draws, unless you know the raisers to regularly cap on the first round with two-card draws. Even then, do not play the two-card draws with 7-6 in them.

If it’s three bets — or capped — by the time it gets to you, play only the best hands. Most players would call here with 7-6-5-4-X, but that’s a mistake. You do not have a good hand with anything but a deuce, and even that might get beat.

How Not to Be Second-Bested
In an earlier column, I mentioned that an adjustment to your playing strategy can save a lot of lost pots resulting from holding the second-best hand. Make the right decision — or, rather, don’t make the wrong decision — on the first round in triple-draw and you’ll save a lot of money. You’ll also make a lot of money against those who make the wrong decision and end up second-best against you.

Triple-draw is a game of good hands. Rough hands win often in this game, but more often, they are costly, because they get beat by those who draw to and end up with better hands. The key card in deuce-to-seven triple-draw lowball is the 6. You often see a hand with a 6 beat by the same rank of hand without a 6; for example, 7-6 beat by a better 7, or, more often, 8-7-6 beat by 8-7-5. These hands are costly, and it is better to throw them away on the first round. For the same reason, you should be cautious with hands that can become straights or flushes. For example, a hand like the 6 5 4 can be played cautiously on the first round under the right circumstances, but you generally would not want to come in cold for two bets or more with the hand.

rough: In lowball, pertaining to the upper spectrum of a class of hands; that is, those topped by two or three cards in sequence. For example, 8-7-6-3-2 is a rough 8, while 8-5-4-3-2 is a smooth 8.

smooth: In lowball, pertaining to a hand whose second-highest card is (if possible) several notches below its top card, as opposed to rough. For example, 8-5-4-3-2 and 8-6-5-3-2 are smooth eights, while any 8-7 is rough. [These definitions are adapted from The Official Dictionary of Poker.]

Michael Wiesenberg has been a columnist for Card Player since the first issue in 1988. He has written or edited many books about poker, and has also written extensively about computers. His crossword puzzles are syndicated in newspapers and appear online and in national publications. Send concerns, cavils, and contributions to [email protected].