2-7 Triple Draw Poker Tips & Strategy for Beginners


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Beginners Guide To 2-7 Triple Draw

Deuce to Seven Triple Draw is a face-down poker game where you need to make the worst possible poker hand to win! Each player is dealt 5 cards unseen by opponents and have three opportunities to swap any number of cards (draw) before showing down their hand. 2-7 Triple draw can be played with fixed limit, pot limit or no-limit betting structures.

Before each hand a big blind and small blind are posted in the same way as Holdem. The player to the left of the big blind then starts the betting by calling, raising or folding. Once the betting is complete each player still in the hand swaps their desired number of cards before the next betting round starts. This happens a total of 3 times - after the 3rd draw there is a final betting round before the hands are shown down.

In 2-7 Triple Draw Poker the best possible hand is 2-3-4-5-7 with more than one suit. There are two important factors to consider. Firstly Aces are counted as high cards. Secondly straights and flushes are also considered high hands, if your low is all of one suit then this hand will lose! Beware also of pairs - any combination of different unpaired cards will beat a pair in this game (with the exception of straights and flushes of course).

The starting hands you can play before the first draw will depend on your position at the table and the tendencies of your opponents. You can play slightly weaker hands if you are one of the last players to act as there will be less chance of an expensive raise from a player yet to act.

Your starting hands are named after the highest of the low cards which you are not drawing. For example if you start with 2-4-7-K-Q you are drawing 2 cards to a 'seven-low'. Starting hands should usually contain at least 3 low cards, either to a seven or maximum 8. Hands which contain a 2 or 3 along with a total of 3 or more cards under 8 are particularly desirable.

If your starting hand contains 4 low cards you are in a very strong position before the first draw and will usually raise. Be careful with open ended low straights such as 3-4-5-6 in this case drawing any 2 or 7 will give you a straight which will ruin your hand. It is sometimes better to treat these hands as a 3-card low and exchange one of the middle cards.

Whether or not you continue with the hand for the second draw will depend on whether you caught new low cards in your hand and on the number of cards your opponents have drawn. If you drew one card and everyone else in the hand drew 2 or more you should normally bet. This will get 2 card draws which did not improve to fold and takes advantage of the fact that you are likely to be ahead.

If you make a good low hand after the first (or any) draw then you can 'Stand-Pat', this means you do not draw any new cards on the next round. Standing pat tells your opponents that you have made a low hand and should be followed by bets on each round that they continue to draw. When an opponent stands pat you can still continue to draw cards - but only if your hand is very strong, for example drawing one card to hit a good 7-low.

After 3 draws, during which you should bet every time you are more than 1 card ahead of your opponents, the hands are shown down. By the last draw it often happens that 2 opponents are both standing pat. When this happens whether you call the last bet will depend on the size of the pot and your estimate of your opponent's tendencies. If you have seen your opponent stand pat with an 8-low or even 9-low in the past then you will be more likely to call than against someone who only plays the nuts.

Good luck at the tables!