Deuce To Seven Triple Draw Lowball: Leading The Turn Part 1

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The turn is the most difficult street to play well in Deuce to Seven Triple Draw (27TD), as it is in all poker games. It’s critical to be aware of the number of cards each player drew on the second draw, as that has a direct impact on both the action and the ranges on the turn.

For example, suppose on the second draw you were out of position drawing one, you make an 8-7-5-4-2, and your turn lead gets raised. Any analysis on how to react to this raise would be impossible without knowing how many cards your opponent drew on the second draw.

If villain was drawing two cards, our turn bet was automatic because we were a card ahead and therefore does not necessarily indicate a pat hand. Since we are often drawing or have a weak pat made hand, our opponent may respond by raising any pat hand. Therefore, in this situation, we would never break the 8-7-5-4-2 and re-raising can be considered.

In contrast, if we were both drawing one, our turn bet wasn’t automatic and is most often a pat hand. Versus a likely pat hand, villain’s turn value raising range will be much tighter, typically an 8-6 low or better.

Sometimes our opponent will either raise some 8-7 lows for value or possibly some ten lows in an attempt to get us to break nine lows, but overall we will be raised less often the times both players drew one. In this case, our 8-7-5-4-2 is mostly a bluff catcher and we should tend to just call and pat; re-raising is off the table.

As you can see, the action we should take with our various holdings depends heavily on the number of cards each player drew on the second draw, and over the next couple of issues focused on turn strategy it will be made very clear what situation is under discussion. In some cases, other factors such as the cards we have seen and/or earlier action can play a role in our decision making and those will also be considered when applicable.

Draws Were 1/1 On Second Draw – Hero’s Out Of Position Leading Range

When we are out of position, there really isn’t a good reason to lead out unless we have improved to pat hand. If we have a premium draw and our opponent is still drawing, we may miss out on a bet with a small equity advantage, however, this does not offset the times our opponent improves to a strong hand and we get raised as a definitive underdog. In addition, our opponent is never going to break any pat hand when he sees we are still drawing.

With regards to our pat hands, we should tend to lead out with any nine low or better for both value and protection. While a nine low is not a monster holding, we are still usually a slight favorite to end up with the best hand over the course of the final two draws. While there is only one draw left, we are out of position and don’t know the outcome of our opponent’s most recent draw, so we must consider the probability of our nine holding up on both the second and third draw.

Occasionally, we can check a very strong made hand and go for a check-raise, but this play should not be made that often. The optimal time to do this is when we make a seven low, our opponent has shown some tendency to bet some of his one card draws on the turn, and along the way we have seen mostly aces and Broadway cards which increase the probability of our opponent completing a pat hand of his own.

We should be checking many of our made tens, as a ten low is generally an underdog to hold up over the course of two draws. In addition to putting in a bet with slightly the worst of it over your opponent’s range, some other bad events can occur.

We can get raised by a good hand or open ourselves up to getting frozen, in which case we would extinguish both our equity and the possible implied odds of our holding. For example, if we choose to lead 10-7-4-3-2, our in-position opponent can just call with his rough eights and some smooth nines thus ensuring him the pot. And this is quite a bad result with such a smooth draw underneath.

Thus, with any ten accompanied by a premium seven draw underneath; we should check and then break if our opponent bets. If the turn gets checked through, breaking may still be the best play even though we know our opponent is almost always still drawing. We are breaking off some equity (i.e. reducing our win percentage) by drawing, however, our premium one-card draw is still often the favorite and we can often make up the shortfall on the last round of betting.

Keep in mind, if the turn checks through and we choose to pat, we have a reverse implied odds river situation with a weak, face-up holding. In addition, when we pat the ten, we eliminate the potential to make a premium hand which will occasionally get some excess action by a good but second-best hand after the last draw.

Being on the right side of coolers in 27TD isn’t always about being lucky; some of the decisions we make will increase our odds of it occurring. Lastly, when the turn gets checked through, there is less in the middle to preserve. So breaking off some equity isn’t that big of a deal.

We can, however, choose to lead out with our rougher tens, perhaps when we have holdings ranging from 10-8-7-5-3 through to 10-9-8-7-5. The reason why leading out with these rougher hands makes sense is because check/calling and breaking these holdings is not very appealing and against most opponents we can safely fold to a turn raise. In addition, on your good days, it’s possible that your lead may cause villain to break either a nine low or a better ten.

With a holding such as 10-6-5-3-2, we can go either way, but betting this hand is what we should probably do more often than not. Getting frozen with 10-6-5-3-2 isn’t as big of a deal as it is with 10-7-4-3-2 since we can’t make the nuts and due to the straight draw have fewer outs to make a seven or an eight. And once again, a turn lead may cause our opponent to break a nine, which we may completely unblock.

With a decent eight draw underneath e.g. 10-8-6-3-2; our default should be to check/call and break. Since our opponent may be patting up to a jack, we are definitely getting the odds to call. However, initially leading with these hands can create problems. If the turn checks through, our opponent is almost always still drawing so we should pat to maximize our equity. Of course, as previously discussed we will arrive on the river with a relatively face up hand, but at least we are not foregoing the opportunity to make one of the premium hands when we pat this specific holding.

In the next issue, we will examine our turn strategy when our opponent was drawing two, and also address how we should tend to react with various holdings when we get raised.

Kevin Haney is a former actuary of MetLife but left the corporate job to focus on his passions for poker and fitness. He is co-owner of Elite Fitness Club in Oceanport, NJ and is a certified personal trainer. With regards to poker he got his start way back in 2003 and particularly enjoys taking new players interested in mixed games under his wing and quickly making them proficient in all variants. If interested in learning more, playing mixed games online, or just saying hello he can be reached at [email protected].