Triple-Draw Lowball: Part VI

The last installment of this series discussed second-round strategy. In this column, I’ll discuss categorizing your opponents, and third-round strategy.

Categorize Your Opponents
Before you get much further in this triple-draw game, take notes on your opponents. I use the following classifications:

• Tight-aggressive: This is the winning persona to adopt. This player is in a pot with what usually figures to be the best hand for the situation. That may be a pat hand or a good draw, and he bets in preference to checking and raises more often than calls. He also can be quick to get out when a good draw turns sour or he’s otherwise likely to be taking the worst of it.

• Loose-aggressive: The player who fits this description will cause your bankroll to undergo a lot of change via variance. This player bets and raises at every opportunity with anything he considers a good hand. And his standards are much less stringent than yours. He will try to run players off good hands and be willing to cap on any of the first three rounds with a draw. You’ll win a large pot from this player when you beat him, but you will lose a lot when he draws out on you or has you beat from the start. Some people forget that just because a player is wild, it doesn’t mean he can’t sometimes have a good hand. You need a much larger bankroll at a table full of loose-aggressive players than one full of the next categories. A subset of this category is the maniac, one who pushes every hand to the maximum regardless of what he holds. The typical loose-aggressive player at least thinks he has the best of it — though his perspective may be distorted — or is trying to make opponents fold. The maniac just charges — and charges you along the way when he or someone else has a real hand. Young Internet wannabe superstars often fall into the loose-aggressive category, thinking that constant raw aggression equates to skill.

• Weak-loose calling station: This should be your favorite opponent. She rarely raises or bets, but calls most bets, often with the worst of it. When she does bet, watch out, because it is likely that she has a great hand.

• Weak-tight calling station: This player is a loser, although he doesn’t lose much. He rarely initiates any betting, but when he calls a bet, he either has or is drawing to a good hand. To win at triple-draw lowball, you have to push when you might have the best of it, not just call along and refrain from betting or raising until you have the nuts or near-nuts. This player may sometimes annoy you when passing and just calling with hands that you would be betting or raising. Don’t let that cause you to miss betting opportunities.

• Tricky: This player may give you fits until you identify her modus operandi. This player often, but not all the time, plays what I call backward. That is, she slow-plays good hands and bets or raises marginal hands. You’ll see this player start with a pat 7 on the first round, just meekly call for the first two rounds, and not “wake up” till the third round. On the other hand, if she raises on the first two rounds, her hand almost assuredly is not a great one. Many players combine this playing style with another, so that bets and raises on the penultimate, and particularly the final, betting round mean what they should. This player either loses or doesn’t win as much as she should, due to FPS (fancy play syndrome).

• Supertight: This is a special category of player you’ll quickly recognize. If he’s in a pot, you probably don’t want any part of it unless you have the nuts or a draw to the nuts.

Other writers give different names to some of these categories. For example, instead of calling station, they may call the player passive. Instead of supertight, they may call the player a nit.

Third Round
This is the decisive, “serious” round. Players have drawn twice to their hands and now make a decision whether to continue. The betting is now at the higher level. Those who remain are usually committed to their hands. Those who were slow-playing no longer hold back revealing their strength. Those with good but vulnerable hands try to protect them. You often will see players still playing the same cards they started with. Of course, some with substandard hands continue stubbornly, so don’t be surprised to see two-card draws still in, and players standing pat on rough nines and worse and calling all bets.

You should have defined your hand at this point. You should be playing mainly good one-card draws and pat hands. Depending on the looseness of the game, a good one-card draw could be to a good 8, or, preferably, to any 7. A pat hand should be a smooth 9 or 8, or, of course, any 7. You may be tempted to break a 9, but this is a mistake against draws. For example, against two one-card draws, you might throw the 9 from 9-7-4-3-2 or 9-5-4-3-2. Against typical draws, the 9-7 has nearly twice the chance of winning as the one-card draw. Standing pat wins 61 percent of the time; drawing wins only 38 percent of the time. The 9-5 is even better. Against pat hands, particularly held by tight or tricky players, you probably break. You usually break if you are first to draw.

Depending on your opponents, if you have any good one-card draw or a good pat 8 or better, you should be willing to cap the betting on this round. (Sometimes that pat 8 will turn into a one-card draw against certain players.) More so than in the first two rounds, slow-playing here is not a good strategy. Those with good one-card draws will stay for all bets, as will those who now have hands they have decided to hang on to until the bitter end. This includes eights and even nines. As before, make them pay for the privilege, but this time they will pay twice as much!

Again, watch out for those who slow-play. A player with too much FPS may just call with a 7 here, planning on snapping the trap shut only on the final round, reasoning in some convoluted way that she’ll kill the action on the last round by revealing her strength here. Of course, proper play is that whenever you can get extra bets, you should go for them. And you might get lucky and get just as much action on the last round. As in earlier rounds, against the action players, don’t be afraid of raising and reraising.

This being the expensive round, many players don’t bet or raise unless they’ve already got the nuts. But you shouldn’t be afraid to bet your best one-card draws and good five-card hands, even against tight opponents who slow-play. You have to temper that with what you know about your opponents, of course.

Michael Wiesenberg has been a columnist for Card Player since 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 celebration, condemnation, and challenges to [email protected].