Believe it or not, there are poker games besides Texas Hold'em (or possibly if you are from the East Coast and not of the Rounders age, seven card stud).  If you ever tire of playing the same old game everyday, or you aren't achieving the results you want, maybe you should try learning another form of poker.  Not only will it allow you to add flexibility to your game selection skills, but anytime you have to think about poker in a new way you improve your knowledge of poker theory, and just maybe you'll find a new concept that you can apply to that old game you thought you'd already mastered.

  2-7 triple draw lowball (TDL) is a relatively new form of poker, and can often only be found in B&M card rooms during high stakes mix games.  It is more readily available online at UltimateBet, B2B, GamesGrid, and most recently, Pokerstars.  TDL has the same structure as Texas Hold'em, with a small blind, big blind, and button, and can only be played six handed or fewer (a game with more than six players results in running out of cards frequently and needing to reshuffle the discards during the hand).  Like the traditional form of poker, 5-card draw, in TDL you are initially dealt five cards, have a round of betting, and then have the opportunity to discard and replace as many cards as you wish.  There is then another betting round, and this is repeated twice more for a total of three drawing rounds and four betting rounds.  At the showdown, the best hand is the one that is lowest - note that aces are high only, and straights and flushes are to be avoided, as they count as straights or flushes and not simply lows (e.g. 65432 is not a six-low, it is a six-high straight).  Therefore, the best possible TDL hand is 75432, which is where the name 2-7 comes from.  Note that when I write a hand, I put the cards in order from highest to lowest, which is how the are compared at showdown (e.g. 87652 beats 87653 by one notch).

  The first piece of strategy advice I can offer is to read the TDL section of Super System 2 by Daniel Negreanu.  He outlines the basic math behind the game, as well as some solid starting hand requirements.  Here you will learn an important concept that will occur over and over again - when to draw one and when to stand pat on the final drawing round.  You will learn that it is almost always correct to stand pat with a jack-low against an opponent drawing one on the end, but you should break a queen-low and draw one as well.  Against two opponents both drawing one, you will want to stand pat with a nine-low but break your ten.

  Another basic concept in TDL is to always bet when you are a card ahead of your opponent(s).  For example, after the first or second draw if you drew two cards and your opponent drew three, bet regardless of what you catch.  Your opponent does not know whether you caught well or poorly and if he caught poorly he will often fold, making your cards insignificant.  Even if he does continue, being a card ahead will almost always make you a favorite to win the hand so you are simply value betting.

  A common situation you will find yourself in is when both you and your single opponent have drawn one (or sometimes two) cards on the last draw and you have to decide how to handle the final betting round.  This is a situation that is entirely dependent on your opponent - if he will frequently bet in this spot both for value and as a bluff, you should tend to check and call with many more hands than you would call down with had your opponent been pat on an earlier drawing round, perhaps calling with a pair of threes or better.  On the other hand, if your opponent tends to play too passively on the end, rarely bluffing or value betting marginal hands, but he will call you with a wide range of hands (fearing you are bluffing him), then you should value bet your great and decent hands, perhaps all nine-lows or better.  You should also check and fold your mediocre hands, such as a jack or queen-low, since your opponent will only bet with better hands than these once you check.  Finally, you should bluff liberally with your worst hands (ones that are least likely to win a showdown if he checks behind) - hands like a pair of fours or worse and especially rivered straights.  Note that this type of opponent is the one most likely to be found in the low limit online game, while the first type are in abundance in the higher stakes games.

  Use the basic strategies I have mentioned above and you will find yourself able to compete in most low limit TDL games online.  One important aspect that cannot be avoided by reading about the game is the experience you will quickly gain by playing it for yourself.  There are many common situations you will frequently find yourself in and once you are comfortable handling them you can focus on more advanced strategies.  In my next article I'll begin to unveil these advanced strategies by discussing some common player types you'll run into and how to adjust to each of them.

© 12/2006 by Chris "DeathDonkey" Vitch