Triple-Draw Lowball: Part VII

My last column in this series discussed third-round strategy. Here, we’ll get into fourth-round strategy.

Fourth Round
You’ve drawn three times to your hand — or stood pat on one or more rounds — and now you have the hand that will be shown down, or folded. Perhaps more mistakes are made on this round than any other. Players bet hands that they shouldn’t, don’t bet hands that they should, don’t raise when they should, fold when they shouldn’t, and call when they shouldn’t.

This column and the next discuss the last round of betting:
• Playing a 7
• Playing an 8
• Playing a 9
• Playing a worse non-pair hand
• Playing a pair

Playing a 7
If you are first and have a 7, any 7, whether you drew or were already pat, bet. You’ll see players check a 7 here against one or more pat hands (or even draws), and then look silly when no one behind them bets. They may have been planning a check-raise, but you will find weak-tight players who check sevens on the last round and then only call if anyone bets. Let’s say that you check the 7 you made on the third draw to two pat hands. The first pat hand checks, and the second bets. You raise, and the first pat hand folds. If the second pat hand just calls your check-raise, you make the same two bets that you would have made had you bet and there been no raise. But if the first player calls and the second raises, you can reraise — or just call if you have 7-6-5-4-2 and the raiser is extremely tight. Assuming that you have the best hand, however, you often make at least four bets by betting instead of two by checking.

While tricky players sometimes check sevens into one or more one-card draws, this is clearly a mistake. If they do it more than once, observant players will decline to bet behind them with medium hands. The others then will show down hands with which they would have called, and the checker loses bets. As demonstrated, it’s better to win a few bets than take a chance on winning a few extra bets by check-raising. Presumably, the pot is big by now, so someone will surely call if there is a bet. (Passing big hands has a stultifying effect on a game, by the way. You probably want to move to another table when you find yourself among several such players.)

Of course, you’re always willing to cap with a wheel, but usually reraise with the next two hands, 7-6-4-3-2 and 7-6-5-3-2. Against a player who often raises with eights and sometimes with worse, be willing to cap with any 7. Against a tight player, do not put the third bet in with 7-6-5-4-2. If the player raises only with a 7 on the last round, reraise only with 7-6-4-3-2 or a wheel. With 7-6-5-3-2, you’re about a 5-3 dog. (You beat one 7 and lose to two. You tie something less than a fourth of the time. This makes it not quite 2-1 against you, because you don’t lose the pots that you tie, and you might pick up an extra bet or two against a third player.) You don’t want to lay the odds against an opponent who has nearly 2-1 the best of it, with an option to cap.

If you’re second with a 7, always raise unless the first bettor is so extremely tight that he bets only sevens, in which case raise with the two best sevens and call with the other two. If the first bettor also bets eights and some hands worse than that, raise with any 7. You’ll see tight players just call when bet into with the two roughest sevens (7-6-5-3-2 and 7-6-5-4-2), but that’s definitely a mistake. And your action here is not affected by whether a player behind you has drawn a card or stood pat. Most of the time, you should be willing to cap here with any 7, particularly if a third player is in and just calling along. Again, give less action to an extremely tight player. And try, if you can, to position such a player to your left — or leave, unless the game is otherwise good.

Playing an 8
You should usually bet a good 8 when first. If multiple opponents have drawn, you almost always should bet any 8. Against two opponents drawing to good hands, 8-7-4-3-2 wins approximately 65 percent of the time. (Better eights win more often, of course.) If a player stood pat behind you, use what you know about him to decide whether to bet. If the player is a weak-tight calling station who will call with an 8 rougher than yours or even a 9 or 10, and particularly if the player won’t raise with a rough 7, bet. If the player is loose-aggressive or tricky, check, and call if he bets.

If you’re second or third with an 8, bet if you’re checked to. If you’re bet into, usually call. If the player who bets is loose-aggressive or tricky, you can raise if you’re prepared to call a reraise. A raise is particularly warranted if someone between the bettor and you just called that bet.

Of course, these are just guidelines. You must temper them with what you have observed about the players. Take notes! If you’re playing multiple games and don’t have time to take notes, I would suggest playing fewer games. I think the edge that you can gain by playing more games is more than offset by what you lose by not taking notes. Oftentimes, I have been able to make the right decision the first time a particular situation comes up in a session because I have notes on what the player did in the same situation in a previous session. If you’re a good note-taker, you also should include how the opponent thinks you play. If he caught you bluffing before, be less likely to bluff this time. (All of this, obviously, is true for any game.)

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 proposals, protestations, and puzzles to [email protected].