The Rules of 2-7 Triple Draw The minimum number of player in a Deuce to Seven Triple Draw game is six. A dealer button is used in the game which indicates which player posts a small blind (the player immediately to the button’s left) and which posts the big blind (the player two places to the left of the button). Carbon Poker is the only room available that offers Triple Draw and has enough players to get the games running. It is on the Merge network, which has anywhere from 1,200 to 3,000 players logged in at a time. Most of these players will be playing Texas Hold'em or Omaha, but there is normally 1-2 tables of limit 2-7 Triple Draw being played.
Table Of Contents
Introduction
Deuce to Seven Triple Draw is a 5 card draw low game. Each player is dealt 5 cards and the goal is to make the lowest possible 5 card hand. There are four rounds of betting and three draws in this game. After each round of betting players choose cards to discard, anywhere from 0 to 5, and the dealer deals them replacement cards. After the third and final draw there is one last round of betting. A dealer button determines the order of betting and discarding.
Hand rankings
In Deuce to Seven Triple Draw players try to make the lowest possible 5 card hand. Aces play for high only and deuces play for low. Because you are trying to make the lowest possible hand, straights and flushes count against you. This means that 23456, for example, is a very bad hand. It is not considered a 6-low. It is a straight and is therefore worse than holding AKQJ9.
The best possible hand you can make is 23457 with no flush. This hand is called a wheel. The next best hand is 23467, again with no flush. This hand is often referred to as Number 2. Likewise, 23567 is referred to as Number 3 and so on.
Because Aces play for high 2345A is not a straight. It is the best possible Ace-low you can make-also called the Nut Ace. 23458 is the Nut 8. 23459 is the Nut 9 and so on. AKQJ9 is the worst possible unpaired hand you can make, since your goal is to make a low hand. 22345 would be the next best hand after that. Trips are worse than pairs. Straights are worse than pairs and trips. Flushes are worse than straights. And full houses are worse than flushes. The worst hand you can hold in this game is a Royal Flush. So, the hand rankings are the inverse of the hand rankings in a regular high game.
How Deuce to Seven triple Draw is dealt
Deuce to Seven Triple Draw is dealt as a 6 player maximum game. The game uses a dealer button just as in hold'em. The player directly to the left of the dealer button posts a live small blind and the player two to the left of the dealer button posts a live big blind. Each player is dealt 5 cards and there is a round of betting. The first betting round starts with the player to the left of the big blind, just as in hold'em. Each player in turn has the option to call, raise or fold.
After the first round of betting is complete, each player who has not folded has a chance to draw. Players are prompted in order to discard any cards they wish to replace in their hand. The first player to act is always the player closest to the left of the button. Players can discard from zero to 5 cards. If a player chooses to discard zero cards he is opting to stand pat. After a player acts on his hand and decides how many cards to discard the next player is prompted in turn to discard and so on until all remaining players in the pot have acted on the draw.
After each player has decided on their discards, the dealer begins replacing their cards in turn. For example, if the first player discards 3 cards, the second player discards 2 cards, and the third player discards 1 card the dealer would deal the first player 3 cards, then take that player's discards into the muck. The dealer would then deal the next player 2 cards then take that player's discards into the muck. The dealer would then deal the last player 1 card, then take that player's discards into the muck.
After the draw is complete, there is another round of betting. The players then have an opportunity to draw again. After the second draw is complete, there is another round of betting. The players then have one more opportunity to discard. After this third and final draw, there is one more betting round.
What happens when there are not enough cards to complete the draw?
Sometimes, there are not enough cards to complete a drawing round. When this happens, the muck has to be reshuffled and the draw is completed after the reshuffle. The cards that are included in the reshuffle are the mucked cards from all previous drawing rounds and the mucked cards of any player who has gotten all of his replacement cards on the current drawing round.
Going back to our previous example, let's say that Player 1 discards 3 cards, Player 2 discards 2 cards and Player 3 discards 1 card. The dealer then deals Player 1 three cards and Player 2 one card. At this point there are no more cards left in the deck. The mucked cards from any previous betting rounds are now shuffled with the discards from Player 1 only. Player 2's discards are not included in the reshuffle since all of his discards were not replaced. This means that it is impossible for a player to ever get his own discards back on a given round of betting.
Betting Structure
Deuce to Seven uses the same betting structure as hold'em. During the first two round of betting the limit is the small bet. So, if the game was a $10/$20 game during the first two round of betting a player could call or raise in $10 increments. The second two rounds of betting the limit is the big bet. In our example, a player can call or raise in $20 increments.
This five-card lowball variation of poker is surprisingly challenging and requires strong card reading ability and great fortitude, especially when played with a No-Limit structure.
It's also a ton of fun and you can see the joy in the faces of some of the most famous poker pros in the world when they're in the midst of an epic 2-7 Triple Draw battle.
The rules of 2-7 Triple Draw are a little bit tricky to get a handle on at first but that's mostly with regards to figuring out how 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball hands are properly ranked.
Once you're comfortable with the rankings and how to think about playing a lowball game, you're well on the way to becoming a lifelong 2-7 Triple Draw fan.
2-7 Triple Draw - Make the Lowest Possible Hand
If you've begun your poker-playing career by playing a standard 'high' poker variation it'll take a bit of adjustment to get used to playing lowball.
To start with your objective in every hand is to make the 'lowest' possible hand. Wrapping your brain around that can take some time. Holding face cards in your hand is bad. That might never seem right.
An holding an ace is your hand is even worse. In 2-7 Triple Draw, aces are always high. In some lowball variations an Ace can also be a low card but not in 2-7 Triple Draw.
If you ever forget which it is, use the name of the game itself as a guide. The name of the game is in fact the very object of the game - to get a low hand between 2 and 7.
To get a handle on the full 2-7 Triple Draw rules you can break it down into a few components:
- 2-7 Triple Draw Rules - The Blinds
- 2-7 Triple Draw Rules - The Deal
- 2-7 Triple Draw Rules - The Betting
- 2-7 Triple Draw Rules - The Draws
- 2-7 Triple Draw Rules - The Showdown
- 2-7 Triple Draw Rules - Hand Rankings
2-7 Triple Draw Rules - The Blinds
2-7 Triple Draw is typically played as a Limit game with a small and big blind; it's exactly the same as Limit Hold'em, really.
The players directly to the left of the dealer are the small and big blind, respectively. The big blind is typically twice the size of the small blind (eg $1/$2).
2-7 Triple Draw Rules - The Deal
Unlike Holdem, in 2-7 Triple Draw each player is dealt five cards face down. The deal starts with the player to the left of the dealer and proceeds clockwise until each player has five cards.
Once each player has 5 cards the first betting round begins.
2-7 Triple Draw Rules - The Betting
Play rotates clockwise starting with the player to the left of the big blind. Players may each, in turn, match the big blind (call), raise or fold. Once the action gets back to the big blind, he or she may check (if no one has raised the bet), call or raise. If there has been a raise the big blind cannot check and see another card.
A minimum raise is twice the size of the big blind or twice the size of any bet before it. Once all bets have been equalized players can now proceed to the first draw.
In No-Limit play a player can put all of his or her chips across the betting line at anytime. If any player has less than the total of another player's all in they can still bet all of their chips in the hand. It then becomes the 'effective stack' and the player with the biggest stack is only risking the amount of the lower stack (unless there is a bigger bet in play from another player).
2-7 Triple Draw Rules - The Draws
Any players still left in the hand after the first betting round may then (in the same order as the betting) discard as many cards as they wish. That means a player can discard anywhere from 0 (stand pat) to all 5 cards.
2 7 Triple Draw
Once each player's cards have been replaced there is another betting round. The second betting round proceeds as the first with the player closest to the left of the dealer still in the hand the first to begin the action.
Once all the bets have been matched again there is a second draw for any players left in the hand. Players can again discard however many cards they'd like.
Once all players have received their new cards another betting round ensues. This continues until each player who remains in the hand has had three total draws. Once the final round of betting is complete hands are 'shown down' and the lowest hand wins the pot.
2-7 Triple Draw Rules - The Showdown
Once all three draw rounds are complete and the betting is closed, players reveal their hands and the lowest possible hand wins the pot.
Hands are ranked according to the highest card in the hand down with the lowest 'high' card deciding the winner. The best possible 2-7 Lowball hand is:
- 7-5-4-3-2 (with all five cards of different suits)
The next best 2-7 hand is 7-6-4-3-2, and so on with the lowest high card always best. If the lowest high card is the same, then the next lowest high card is the deciding factor.
Aces are always high cards and straights, flushes and pairs count against you (ie diminish the value of your hand).
Only one hand will win the entire pot (ie it's not a split game with both a high and a low hand). If two players have the exact same hand they split the pot.
Once the player with the lowest hand wins the pot, play moves around to the next hand with the player to the left of the dealer now in the dealer position and the blinds moving one place to the left.
2-7 Triple Draw Rules - Hand Rankings
As we mentioned above the 2-7 Triple Draw Hand Rankings take a little bit of time to get used to. Ideally you want all unmatched, unsuited low cards.
Any pairs, straights or flushes will reduce the value of your hand. So for example a 7h-5h-4h-3h-2h will lose to any unsuited lowball hand even if the highest low card in that hand is higher than 7.
Also remember that Aces are always high so 5-4-3-2-A isn't a low straight or wheel but an Ace-five lowball hand (ie A-5-4-3-2). Hands are commonly referred to in that manner - eg 8-6 high is a hand with and 8 and 6 as the two highest cards.
Here's a list of the Top 25 (meaning lowest) hands in 2-7 Triple Draw to help you out:
7-5-4-3-2
7-6-4-3-2
7-6-5-3-2
7-6-5-4-2
8-5-4-3-2
8-6-4-3-2
8-6-5-3-2
8-6-5-4-2
8-6-5-4-3
8-7-4-3-2
8-7-5-3-2
8-7-5-4-2
8-7-5-4-3
8-7-6-3-2
8-7-6-4-2
8-7-6-4-3
8-7-6-5-2
8-7-6-5-3
9-5-4-3-2
9-6-4-3-2
9-6-5-3-2
9-6-5-4-2
9-6-5-4-3
9-7-4-3-2
9-7-5-3-2
A Couple of Quick Strategy Tips for 2-7 Lowball
- If you need more than two cards to make your hand, you should probably fold. With three betting rounds things could get very expensive and you might not even have a made hand at the end.
- Don't forget the rules. Hands like 7 5 3 2 A and 7 6 5 4 3 look very good until you remember that aces are high and straights are even higher.
- Any starting hand with a 2 in it is usually good
- Don't draw more than 3 cards if you can avoid it
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2 7 Triple Draw Strategy
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