Poker Strategy: An Effective Range Assessment

Amongst poker games, triple draw might have the most variants available with 2-7, A-5, badugi, badeucey, badacey, and others all having the design where the player draws three times to make a strong hand. It is different from board games such as hold’em, Omaha, or Stud in that there are no face up cards, so all the information given is how many cards each player draws on each street. This makes for some fun pots and interesting decisions.

Of the games mentioned, I think 2-7 features the most player skill and ability to maneuver, which brings me to a recent hand from $20-$40. Under the gun, I raised with 7-4-2-X-X and got called by the hijack and button, both reasonable players with some experience in the game.

All of us drew two, and I slightly improved with an 8. I am never excited to be drawing to an 8-7 since it often loses to better 8s in showdowns and we are also out of position, but the only alternative here would be to draw two to a 7-4-2 which is weaker than one to a 8-7-4-2.

As such, I kept the 8 and chose to bet out, and both opponents called. I drew one, the hijack drew one and button again drew two.

I picked up a 9 to make a very rough holding of 9-8-7-4-2. Now, if I elect to check and everyone checks through, it would be fairly clear that my rough 9 was the best hand. However, if I check, my opponents may bet a better 9, a strong 8 or 7, or potentially even a worse hand like a 10. Also noteworthy, I’d hate to check and give my opponents free draws on the river if I do happen to be ahead.

Alternatively, if I choose to bet, I could be betting into a newly made better hand, or worse open myself up to being outplayed if my opponent had a holding of let’s say 10-7-5-4-2 and raised to test where I was and possibly induced me to break by drawing a card.

This is one of the perils to being out of position in triple draw. It really is a tremendous power to see what your opponent does first when drawing.

Of course, the hand I currently fear most was the hijack that was drawing one. Given everything, I would put his range as slightly stronger than my 8-7 draw. The two-card draw probably had a similar strong two-card draw as me to start, but is a significant underdog to both of us since he missed on the first pull.

All things considered, I looked at my opponents and decided betting was my best course of action. I found the next sequence rather surprising as the hijack called and the button now raised!

So, let’s define what my opponent ranges are. The hijack is most likely still drawing to a 7 or a decent 8. He could also potentially have hit a decent card on his draw to make a good but not great hand he plans to pat with such as an 8-6 or 8-7.

As for the button, this is where things become rather interesting. He could have drawn two and smashed to a big hand like a 7-low or a strong 8 such as 8-5-4-3-2 or 8-6-4-3-2. If he did any of these, since I am never going to call and draw two cards, I would be drawing stone dead to him.

Alternatively, he may have a breakable made hand and is testing to see where he is at. Examples of these would be a 9 that he can break to draw smooth such as 9-7-5-4-2 or 9-8-4-3-2 where in either case he is drawing to a 7 or a smooth 8 if he elects to discard the 9. Since I am betting after I drew, he could even have a weak holding like a 10-7-5-3-2 and is seeing how I respond so he can play accordingly.

So, all reasonable scenarios accounted for, I considered what is my best option. I could call thinking he is making a play at the pot, pat my hand, and hope for the best that he was in fact making a move. I could also give him credit for hitting big and fold my 9-8 altogether. However, given he drew two cards and was a decent opponent, I thought I had a good opportunity here to represent a bigger hand by three-betting, and induce him to break often if I am behind.

Plus, by doing so, I can potentially force out the middle opponent who has either a decent draw or a mediocre holding by facing two bets. Even if the button had a better hand than my 9-8-7, he is likely to draw in the face of the extra raise, and that would put me in the best possible position to win a big pot.

Of course, if he does have a smooth draw such as 7-4-3-2, he would be live to a 5,6,8, or 9 against my hand which is a total of 16 cards. Obviously, some of what he may need is dead in my hand, and likely a couple cards are dead from the other opponent, so the most likely remaining outs he has are about 10-12, still sizeable to connect yet a significant underdog.

So, I reasoned this through and elected to three-bet planning to pat. To my happiness, middle position folded and button called. After I patted, he drew one. I checked to him planning to call if he did wager, but he checked and I tabled a 9-8-7-4-2 that won a much bigger pot than it probably deserved.

Effective range reading like this can allow for fun scenarios like this to be taken advantage of!

Mark Mazmanian has been a mixed-game specialist for more than two decades playing in games all over the country. The Las Vegas resident can be reached on IG maztastic1 or by email at markmaz17hotmail.com.

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