Triple Draw Poker Strategy

Triple Draw Poker Strategy
Triple Draw is a new game that is rapidly gaining popularity. It is currently being spread by Ultimate Bet and is getting quite a bit of play. This is a game that historically has been played for extremely high stakes in Vegas casinos. It is a 5 card game with three drawing rounds where lowest hand wins. It is played is offered in two varieties A-5 and 2-7. In A-5, straights and flushes do not count against you making A2345 the best hand. In 2-7, straight and flushes count as high hands, so 23457 is the best hand as long as they are not all the same suit. Add this game to your repertoire, its fast and fun and full of loose players.

Starting Hand Strategy for Triple Draw Poker
Good Starting hand selection and respecting position are two of the most important aspects of Triple Draw. As long as you are respecting and paying attention to these two aspects of the game you should do very well. On the first draw you should always be drawing to a wheel or a top 5 hand. In 2-7 this means throwing away any card above a 7, In A-5 this means discarding anything above a 6. On later drawing rounds if you are playing against only a single opponent it is sometimes worth keeping higher cards but on the first round it is virtually always better to break your hand all the way down and draw to the nuts. The only two exceptions are when you are snowing or have been dealt a pat hand. A pat hand is when you are dealt 5 cards and are not going to draw at all, if this is the case you should bet or raise all the way to river. Do stand pat with a hand you will not be comfortable raising to the end with. You must make other players pay to draw against you to be successful in this game. If you are in Early position you should only be playing when you have 4 cards to a wheel. From late position you can loosen up a little and play 3 card draws as well. In general 3 or more card draws should only be played for free from the blind, otherwise fold.

Triple Draw Advanced Plays

Snowing in Triple Draw
This is an advanced play, should mainly be used at tables with at least some folding equity (A chance players will fold). Basically snowing is when you stand pat on the first or second draw and bet to the river pretending you have a made hand when you don't. You continue betting and raising in the hopes that nobody will make a hand they can call you with on the river. This works far better in 2-7 because their are fewer good cards (and hence each one you hold is more valuable as a blocking card). Snowing is best done when you hold a hand that has no show-down value but does a good job of blocking everyone else from having a playable hand. 22227 is the strongest example, if you were dealt this hand you would know that the best hand an opponent could possibly make is an 86low. The one thing to remember with snowing is that if at any point someone else stands pat you must abandon the plan. This means they have hand they will show down. Check and fold, or draw to a real hand if you can draw for free.

Knowing When to Break on late betting rounds in Triple Draw
Knowing when to break a made hand and draw to a better one is what separates average from great Triple Draw players. When playing this game it is important to watch your opponents carefully so over time you can begin to see what their betting requirements are and learn what hands they draw to. If you know a player will never bet with less then an 8 it becomes a simple decision to split your 23459 and draw to a better 8 or 7. Where it is somewhat more difficult is when you have a hand like J2345 going into the final draw. Heads up against 1 player who is drawing one card you are ahead regardless of the quality of that draw. Any made 5 card hand is ahead of a 2 card draw, and a made 9 is ahead of two players drawing 1. In limit games of triple draw it is usually better to hold any made hand as the size of the pot versus the additional bets you may doesn't give you large enough implied odds to risk losing the whole pot when you pair on the river. In big bet games like pot limit or no limit Triple draw it becomes a much closer call, the best strategy then is usually to break the hand if your opponent still has lots of chips left, if the pot is large compared to his/their remaining stack(s) you should consider breaking and drawing to a nut hand.

Standing Pat for deception
Once you have developed an image for being a tight and aggressive player you can often steal hands from your opponents by betting and standing pat on the 3rd draw and then betting out after that final draw. By doing this you will often force out many hands that may have called you had you drawn going into the last hand. This play works far better in limit variations of the game as your risk from a re-raise is less.

Where to Play Triple Draw Poker Online

Currently only one major Room offers Triple Draw, but luckily they offer both varieties 2-7 and A-5 and in good range of limits.

*update* November 24th-

PokerStars now offers triple draw. As PokerStars is now one of the largest sites online this should lead to a large growth in the popularity of this game. They are offering triple draw in Limit, No Limit, and Pot Limit variations.